[chewxy]

Spelling error: 'technically apt', not 'ept'.

"Ept" means effective. As in "inept"

I don't understand this part:

> No one seems to have pointed out that this makes your database a reflection of your database, not a reflection of reality. Pull out an annotation in GenBank today and it’s not very long odds that it’s completely wrong.

In fact this entire article seems to be a rant on why bioinformatics as a field is rotting. But instead of ranting, surely something can be done about it?

Shouldn't we as hackers see this as an opportunity to revolutionize the field?

[dmak]

It all begins with a rant.

[saraid216]

As a general rule, the people on the short end of the stick are the people least capable of producing change. Worse, change that they bring about tends to be good from a strict, technical viewpoint but has huge negative side effects that go unnoticed or deliberately ignored until it becomes difficult to distinguish the resultant system as a better one.

Rants like this, and providing interviews to third parties, are actually one of the more positive things that he could bring to the table: it provides information to people who aren't aware and inspires motivation in people who aren't entangled.

[chewxy]

I don't know, but I think Fred is in a prime position to disrupt bioinformatics. He knows all the flaws, he knows all the problems. If I were him, I'd have seized the opportunity and work on a hard problem.

Then again, I am in no position to judge what Fred should or should not do