Some of the most underinvested areas in frontier biology that could accelerate civilizational progress:
- Cheap, large-scale DNA synthesis (writing entire chromosomes or full organisms)
- Real-time, non-destructive RNA sequencing in living cells
- Highly accurate AI-powered polygenic scores for complex traits (disease risk, cognition, longevity) β enabling full genome design
- Ultra-precise, multiplex genome editing (far beyond CRISPR) with minimal off-target effects, scalable across millions of cells
- Safe, efficient, tissue-specific in vivo delivery systems
- Safe and effective human germline engineering
- Accelerated clinical trials via testing on decedents (with consent)
- Next-gen human enhancement: muscle, cognition, mood β beyond GLP-1s
- Ectogenesis / artificial wombs
Whoβs actually building in these areas? Drop names, companies, or researchers below π
x402 was always meant to be an open and neutral payments standard, and itβs why the x402 Foundation now lives under the @linuxfoundation.
In this episode of CDPod, @programmer and @yugacohler explain the history of x402, what this move means, why open standards win over walled gardens, and whatβs next for the protocol. β
The x402 Foundation just launched under @linuxfoundation with @coinbase, @Cloudflare, @stripe, @Google, @Mastercard, @Visa, @Microsoft, @AWS, @Shopify, @solana, and 10+ more.
The thesis: AI agents need to transact autonomously, millions of times a day, no human in the loop. The transaction layer for that must be open. Not a walled garden.
HTTP 402 "Payment Required" has been a reserved status code since 1997. A placeholder for a payment standard that never came. x402 finally activates it. 165M+transactions. Permissionless. No signup. No platform approval.
History is clear. HTTP beat AOL. TCP/IP beat OSI. Open standards win not because they are perfect, but because they are widely adopted. Consensus on a standard creates more value than having a perfect standard.
The alternative: one company controls the agent transaction layer. Every agent needs their account. Every payment on their terms. That is the app store model applied to machine commerce. We have the chance to avoid it.
The agentic web is the internet's third platform shift. Web connected people. Mobile put the internet in your pocket. AI agents democratize software that acts autonomously. Every era was defined by open standards. This one should be too.