You might not feel that genes, DNA, and genetic modification are the answer to anything, or that they are not something you want to be involved in. That's fine; that is one of the possible answers we might reach from this hui. However, I want to share some of the reasons that I spend time thinking about these things--and thinking about other things as well. Everybody has reasons for getting out of bed in the morning; here are three of mine, one global, one local and one personal to my family:

• Global - demographic trends in human population and lifestyle requirements can be projected to show that over the next fifty years we will have to grow more food to feed ourselves than we have managed to grow in the past five thousand (source). And we will have to do so on less agricultural land than we had available during the last fifty years, thanks to our despoiling of the environment (salination, pollution and so on). That's the kind of problem that can only have a complex, manifold solution. I don't know if genetic modification of agricultural species, or ubiquitous best-practice organics, or anything else we know today will be a major factor in the answer, but I think it's worth everyone dedicating some thinking to what the options are and how we are going to choose the best ones.
• Local - New Zealand is a first-world nation (I note that, like the future, this status is unevenly distributed!) in terms of lifestyle and luxury and yet we have an economy based on tourism and on trading in primary products i.e. commodities. That's the sort of thing a third-world country bases an economy on, and it is highly vulnerable to global economic cycles and to people getting bored with The Lord of the Rings's scenery. We are a country with a first-world head and third-world feet and I don't know how far, or for how long, anyone can run like that.
• Family - the book of every individual's genome contains thousands of spelling mistakes. In particular, about 300 of those are detrimental mutations that might lead to cancers or other genetic diseases (source). Most of them come from our immediate ancestors though a handful are our own and each of us has a unique set of spelling errors. I have two children: among the other things I've given them for good or ill is a large part of their genetic load in the shape of 300 currently insoluble problems. And that is a reason why I am interested genes, genomes and genetic modification.

I'm not saying science, genetics, or genetic modification is the answer to any of these problems but I see the issues as steamrollers from the future, species-wide problems that will inevitably require a solution, and quickly. Solve them one way or another--I don't much care--but solve them.

This seemd to resonate with some, even those who believe genetic modification can do no right.