From the book Cracking the
Code: Understand and Profit from the Biotech Revolution That Will Transform Our
Lives and Generate Fortunes:
“Many industries will be disrupted by the wave of advances
in life sciences. Genome sequencing will, despite ethical considerations, turn
the life insurance industry on its head. Youth-oriented industries will be
squeezed at the expense of those that cater to the elderly, such as nutrition,
clothing and entertainment. People looking at the long-term future of their
profession should have an eye out for the disruptive trends that are about to
change many industrial landscapes.”
……….
I think the life sciences industry is an important one to
learn about as it will be quite significant over the next several decades.
Remember the quote from Steve Jobs that I’ve posted a couple of times: “I think
the biggest innovations of the twenty-first century will be the intersection of
biology and technology. A new era is beginning, just like the digital one when
I was his age.”
I’ve only just begun to read the book above, but the amount
of work the authors put into it and the simplicity in vocabulary that they have
attempted to use make me think it’ll be a great introduction. The authors do
seem to have the belief that technological innovation and ingenuity of the
human mind will solve the major problems of the world today, such as energy
needs, adequate food production, population problems, etc…..the things Jeremy
Grantham discussed and was less optimistic about in his latest letter.
So to keep a balanced perspective but still read about and
learn what I think are important ideas, I think it might be interesting to also
read Garrett Hardin’s Living within
Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos at the same time, as
well as Nassim Taleb’s The Black
Swan for the extra emphasis on being careful of narratives and
long-term predictions.
I think combining reading things together like this is an
interesting way to learn, and one I hope to explore further in other areas as
well.