Andy Grove on the genomic revolution (2001)

This particular once-a-half-century change [the Internet] is due to the combination of the microprocessor and connectedness.  And the most interesting aspect is that the change hasn't nearly run its course yet.  We are likely to see layered on top of it a change of comparable significance in the area of genetics, molecular biology, and the like, which would absolutely be inconceivable without very powerful and highly connected and available computers.  The impact of that change on drug development, health care, and human life is difficult to imagine.  But is it part of the computing/connectedness change? Or should we think of it as a new change unto itself?  The reason I ask is that, if this change happens as extensively as some people think it might, the consequences could be far more important than the enabler.  Compared with directly altering life and death, computers and the Internet don't seem like such a big deal.  But without the computers and connectedness, the genetics/molecular biology stuff would never get off the ground.

~ Andy Grove, "Andy Grove's Rational Exuberance," Wired, June 1, 2001