[yread]

CRISPR most definitely made a huge economic contribution. It's used massively https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=crispr and it allows to do things that would have been very difficult (and expensive, thus providing value) to do otherwise, allowing researchers to do new therapies and diagnostic tools that WERE applied in clinic.

That's a bit like saying containers haven't provided meaningful economic contribution because consumers don't use them very often.

[usehackernews]

I state that CRISPR benefits researchers. However, that is still a niche benefit relative to the long term societal benefits we anticipate from CRISPR.