CRISPR has arrived at a time when we're also making huge advances in bioinformatics and machine learning. When you've got a reliable tool for editing DNA, many

CRISPR has arrived at a time when we're also making huge advances in bioinformatics and machine learning. When you've got a reliable tool for editing DNA, many biology problems reduce to software problems. The big risks and big opportunities reflect the synergy of multiple technologies. CRISPR alone is a useful curio, but CRISPR plus high-throughput sequencing plus shared genome databases plus ASIC-based machine learning is something else entirely. It's also worth considering that conventional western standards of ethics and acceptable risk won't necessarily be a constraining factor on the development of genetic engineering over the next few decades.