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It's time again to stretch your brain. If you're in the Bay Area this week, drive to Burlingame for the 11th Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.

If you're old enough you may remember how fascinating it was that someone could write the Declaration of Independence on the back of a stamp, or carve miniature sailing ships in a bottle. Ummm, this is smaller.

I can follow the presentations with my college chem1A memories. The good news: tutorials start tomorrow. 

Most of the research being presented is 2-5 years from commercialization. You can see where the scientists are putting their time and their investors are betting their money. For those who want to understand the trajectory of this transformational technology, and get a realistic feel for the short term timeline, there are few better places to spend this week than the San Francisco Airport Marriott. btw, I'm a huge fan of the Foresight Institute.

With my background in marketing management and software engineering, nanotechnology is a huge stretch for me. Especially if I want to add value. As in IT, the bleeding edge today is boring routine in 12 months. So I have to both catch up and climb on the new treadmill. There's nothing like a challenge.

The San Francisco Chronicle: On The Record: Larry Ellison:

Ellison pulled out a crystal ball when asked what Silicon Valley will be like in five or 10 years: "It's going to be a lot more like Detroit than like Silicon Valley. The great news is we're going to be the molecular biology hub for the world, but we will have more competition -- in San Diego, in Boston, in Tel Aviv. But the gestation period of a company in molecular biology is very different from that of a software company. The returns will be slower in coming, so the whole metabolism of the valley will have to be retuned for that industry."

So, can I use my C# skills in molecular biology? Will we start teaching gene splicing to grade schoolers, so they'll be ready for college?