AlphaFold is the best counterpoint to tech cynics.
One of the largest public tech companies in the world funded a multi-year scientific project, executed the research flawlessly and moved forward an entire scientific field. They then went on to openly release the code _and_ data, working with a publicly funded organization (EMBL-EBI) to ensure researchers across the globe can easily access the outputs.
I'm not arguing that every tech company is a net positive for humanity. Google itself isn't perfect. Google + DeepMind is setting a bloody high bar though.
One of the largest public tech companies in the world funded a multi-year scientific project, executed the research flawlessly and moved forward an entire scientific field. They then went on to openly release the code _and_ data, working with a publicly funded organization (EMBL-EBI) to ensure researchers across the globe can easily access the outputs.
I'm not arguing that every tech company is a net positive for humanity. Google itself isn't perfect. Google + DeepMind is setting a bloody high bar though.