I'd agree that we can only guess at the future - I'd just saying there is almost a fetishism for man made technology, and a blind spot for nature as it is perva

I'd agree that we can only guess at the future - I'd just saying there is almost a fetishism for man made technology, and a blind spot for nature as it is pervasive. You say we have made little progress in biology technology - yes and no. Yes - there is so much more that could be done. No - you are again ignoring the stuff in plain sight - the vast majority of our food comes from 'engineered' animals or plans - very little from wholly engineered chemical processes. Breeding is low tech engineering - but it's still engineering - the productivity of commercial wheat is vastly superior to wild grasses for example. Or look at the variety of dog breeds - each one developed for a particular purpose - from sheep herding & rabbit hunting to guiding blind people. Now it's perhaps too easy, and not intellectually completely understood - but if you are focusing on outcomes - it's bloody effective. The right virus - a tiny thing much smaller than a single cell - could wipe out a huge proportion of the population - it's happened in the past. You can imagine a future where Iron Man fights for human survival with rockets, missiles and high tech, but you ignore biology at your peril.