[This is part of a series of posts that briefly describe the trends were currently tracking here at O’Reilly: 1, 2]
Genetic analysis software and hardware used to be very expensive, only for professionals—now it’s trickling down to ProAms, and soon (under 5 years) will be widespread for consumer applications. This changes how drugs are developed and applied (don’t test against 500 people and say whether it “works”, figure out which genetic markers indicate the people it works for and sell to those), how diseases/conditions are diagnosed and treated, and our sense of self. Expect “interesting” (in the Chinese curse sense) interactions with privacy, workplace relations, and even parenthood.
Watchlist: 23andme, Hugh Reinhoff’s “My Daughter’s DNA“.