[bawolff]

industrialization usually requires making the same product for everyone. E.g. back in the day everyone had custom fitted shoes, now we choose from pre-made sizes.

Its not entirely clear such tailored processes can be easily automated.

[fnordpiglet]

Programmable automation absolutely allows for industrialization of personalized stuff. It depends greatly on can the production of the actual mRNA be programmed flexibly enough to allow the last mile work non tailored but programmable. However the entire pipeline of collection, sequencing, and the planning of the mRNA can absolutely be fully automated. The last stages that may be manual can be industrialized in the sense there’s a repeatable process that can be compartmentalized into functional roles ala assembly lines.

I don’t know it needs to be industrialized to the extent producing ibuprofen is, but I’m not as bearish that individualized medicine can’t be industrialized and done at scale - especially if aspects of the tailoring can be programmable. Even if it’s not now - as scale increases, maybe technology meets that?

By the way you can in fact get tailored clothes produced through automation. Shoes, pants, shirts. There are products that will scan your body shape and an automated process produces a custom fit for you. They’re slightly more expensive, but I think the sales process is cumbersome and they never took off vs big box of throw away ill fitting garbage to cover our body with and throw away. That’s more a sad statement of modern culture than a limitation of our ability to automate and industrialize.