McKinsey&Company
Five scenarios that change the future
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Get me rewrite. Jennifer Doudna, who won the Nobel Prize for her work on Crispr, the gene-editing tool, says that designer babies are entirely possible within 25 years. She finds the possibility horrifying, but says that the way things are going, it’s likely. No one has found a cell type or system where Crispr doesn’t work, Doudna says. Cancer, heart disease, and lung disease are potential vectors for new Crispr research on people. Other fields beckon, including agriculture and fighting climate change. [Bloomberg] |
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Muscle up. The cultivated-meat business is taking off. One report estimates that within a decade, 10% of global meat could be grown in the lab. The process begins with animal cells that are extracted and given nutrients and other growth factors to multiply. The cells form primitive muscle fibers and are then encouraged to build more robust structures. Add some food coloring, a bit of fat, vitamins, and minerals, and voilà—dinner is ready. [Reuters] |
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The bio revolution. It’s now possible to reprogram the fundamental units of life, says Amy Webb, a futurist and business adviser. The possibilities are endless. Every industry will be affected: pharmaceuticals, industrial materials, auto manufacturing, even banking. But with the ability to engineer living cells comes significant risk. “In the future, the most worrying data security breaches could actually involve our DNA,” says Webb. Stolen DNA could become a major information security problem in the new biological era. |
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Risks and rewards. Researchers in many fields are tinkering with DNA. But almost no one is thinking through what it all means for society and business. Webb’s new book, The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology, considers the implications of our newfound ability to precisely edit DNA. What does it mean for companies’ succession strategies if we can cancel aging? What happens when groups of people have the genetic wherewithal to live off-planet? What if hackers intercept genetic code transmissions and inject malware? Read our interview for the answers. |
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| — Edited by Mark Staples |
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