Hi, I thought that it could prove useful to write a list of all the possibile future innovations from biotechnology and science in the future.
I know the stotyline is almost closed now.. but I have a degree in biotechnology, I like science fiction, and I hope I can give you some useful suggestions.
Maybe this topic could be used as a repository for ideas around the state of research in 2084, so if someone wants to contribute, it could become a nice discussion.
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genome sequencing and personal genomics:
actually, in a few years of time we will able to obtain the whole genomic sequence of an human specimen in a few weeks and with low expenses. It is someway already possible now; the branch of science that actually studies this is called 'Personal Genomics'.
Try to figure out what will be the effects of this on our life. We will be able to know most of the genetic defects and the expected lifespan of every person. I reccomend you a film, 'gattaca' (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca), to have an idea of what nightmare it could become. However, different countries would have a different policy around this: maybe in China (I hope chinese people will forgive me... but this is how China is depicted in the storyline), during the dictatorial regime, many people could have been genetically improved and almost-cloned.
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HIV and tropical diseases: let's make that HIV is defeated in the future
Maybe you have heard of some open-science movements, as tropicaldisease.org. I would like to suggest a scenario: many scientist, fond of this free-science idea, moved to Africa and the Revolutionary Countries to work on rare diseases and HIV, and found a cure after a while.
This would make Africa a less weak country than how it is now, as it will host good scientists and big accademies.
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cloning: in the future, the cloning technology will be improved. It will be possible to breed cloned animals and use them to produce better food and milt, at least in the most developed country. The same will be likely apply for plants. Cloning animals could be risky in same situations, because it reduces the variability in their population and they will become more sensitive to flus and external factors.
Maybe you will be likely be able to clone your own pet, or (in some countries) your friends, housbands, grandfathers, favorite singers.
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standard biotechnology: genetically ingenereed micro-organisms will be used produce big amounts of drugs and useful molecules, maybe the same nano-bots you've described in a few pages, or to recycle industral wastes and produce energy from them.
It would be very cool to see some micro-organisms used in one of the weapons, too
- pandemic flus: pandemic flus are epidemic disease that infects on a worldwide scale and kill several humans.
It is expected that a pandemic flu pops out more or less 3 times in a century. However, it seems less likely for a flu to spread in the whole world given the scenary you've described in the storyline, because the epidemy will be more easily controlled.
