Then came gene targeting technologies, like CRISPR, over 10 years ago. With these technologies we can delete, modify, add, or change any gene in any organism’s DNA and it’s easy and cheap. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Where are my Pokémon?

The scientific industrial complex is fundamentally broken. Scientists are trapped in a system of their own creation that values paywalled publications over real progress. If they can’t even make knowledge freely available, how can they be expected to push the boundaries of innovation? A field built on gatekeeping will never lead the future.

The real question isn’t whether we can do this. The real question is what comes next. The first steps are already happening in the lab of my new company, the Los Angeles Project (LAP). We are learning to harvest large amounts of embryos and eggs from different animal species so we can understand the development of life on a scale no one has tried before. We are editing genes and injecting DNA with micro-precision, sculpting biology at its most fundamental level.