"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

Pritchard and Yao Lee joined in. Lee obviously thought it was a good idea, in theory. He started
describing it as a kind of cookbook with evolving recipes, and Frank ventured to say, тАЬHow would that
work?тАЭ

тАЬWell, by successive iterations of the operation, you know. It would be to get you started, suggest
directions to try.тАЭ

тАЬLook,тАЭ Francesca interjected, тАЬeventually weтАЩre going to have to tackle this issue, because until we do,
the mechanics of gene expression are just a black box. ItтАЩs a very valid line of inquiry.тАЭ

тАЬHabib?тАЭ Frank asked.

тАЬIt would be nice, I guess, if he could make it work. ItтАЩs not so easy. It would be like a roll of the dice to
support it.тАЭ

Before Francesca could collect herself and start again, Frank said, тАЬWell, we could go round and round
on that, but weтАЩre out of time on this one, and itтАЩs late. Those of you who havenтАЩt done it yet, write down
your scores, and letтАЩs finish with one more from Alice before we go to dinner.тАЭ

Hunger made them nod and tap away at their consoles, and then they were on to the last one for the
day, тАЬRibozymes as Molecular Logic Gates.тАЭ When they were done with that, Frank stuck its Post-it on
the whiteboard with the rest. Each little square of paper had its proposalтАЩs averaged scores written on it.
It was a tight scale; the difference between 4.63 and 4.70 could matter a great deal. They had already
put three proposals in the тАЬFundтАЭ column, two in the тАЬFund If Possible,тАЭ and six in the тАЬDo Not Fund.тАЭ
The rest were stuck to the bottom of the board, waiting to be sorted out the following day. PierzinskiтАЩs
was among those.

That evening the group went out for dinner at Tara, a good nearby Thai restaurant with a wall-sized fish
tank. The conversation was animated and wide-ranging, the mood getting better as the meal wore on.
Afterward a few of them went to the hotel bar; the rest retreated to their rooms. At eight the next
morning they were back in the conference room doing everything over again, working their way through
the proposals with an increasing efficiency. Thornton recused himself for a discussion of a proposal from
someone at his university, and the mood in the room noticeably lightened; even when he returned they
held to this. They were learning each otherтАЩs predilections, and sometimes jetted off into discussions of
theory that were very interesting even though they were only a few minutes long. Some of the proposals
brought up interesting problems, and several strong ones in a row made them aware of just how amazing
contemporary work in bioinformatics was, and what some of the potential benefits for human health might
be, if all this were to come together and make a robust biotechnology. The shadow of a good future
drove the group toward more generous strategies. The second day went better. The scores were, on
average, higher.

тАЬMy Lord,тАЭ Alice said at one point, looking at the whiteboard. тАЬThere are going to be some very good
proposals that weтАЩre not going to be able to fund.тАЭ

Everyone nodded. It was a common feeling at the end of a panel.

тАЬI sometimes wonder what would happen if we could fund about ninety percent of all the applications.
You know, only reject the limited-discussions. Fund everything else.тАЭ

тАЬIt might speed things up.тАЭ