We do have much to learn, but look at how far we've come in 20 years. Compare what we know now about genetics to what we knew back in 1987. That same exponential growth of understanding will continue in the coming decades. By the year 2027, our abilities to understand and manipulate life will boggle the mind.

The advances in understanding biology have gone hand in hand with the explosive increase in computing power. Back in 1987 it took years to decode the simplist of genomes, but today we can do the same job within hours. Once the first optical and quantum computers come online, and with advances in nanotech, the speed of discovery and understanding will continue to increase at an ever faster rate. Expecting the same rate of growth in the biological sciences over the next 30 years as has been experienced in the computing sciences over the past 30 years is very reasonable, IMO.