I'm surprised that amid the sea of comments lamenting the demise of individual experimentation, nobody has mentioned the vastly stricter regulatory environment

I'm surprised that amid the sea of comments lamenting the demise of individual experimentation, nobody has mentioned the vastly stricter regulatory environment surrounding individual experimentation. You can't buy any chemical equipment because you might be making drugs. Mechanical equipment might be used to make bombs or guns. For now I guess you might be able to get away with making transgenic bacteria in your garage, but it's only one or two media panics away from being banned because you might accidentally make grey goo. Plus, if you do try to do any sort of substantial experimentation, be prepared for your neighbors to report you to the police and your HOA to fine you for smell and noise. Orville Wright would be behind bars today. Jonas Salk would be a public enemy. Alex Fleming would have been kicked out of grad school for not properly sterilizing equipment. Of course, you can buy seventeen kinds of homeopathic medicine at Walgreens. Everyone knows it doesn't work, but they also know it's harmless, which in the Rawlsian dystopia of a life lived behind the veil of ignorance, is the only thing that matters.