Editing Freeman Dyson (section)

===Biotechnology and genetic engineering===
{{see also|The Sun, the Genome and the Internet}}
Dyson admitted his record as a prophet was mixed, but thought it is better to be wrong than vague, and that in meeting the world's material needs, technology must be beautiful and cheap.

{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% | My book ''The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet'' (1999) describes a vision of green technology enriching villages all over the world and halting the migration from villages to megacities. The three components of the vision are all essential: the sun to provide energy where it is needed, the genome to provide plants that can convert sunlight into chemical fuels cheaply and efficiently, the Internet to end the intellectual and economic isolation of rural populations. With all three components in place, every village in Africa could enjoy its fair share of the blessings of civilization.|source={{harvnb|Dyson|2007}} }}

Dyson coined the term "green technologies", based on [[biology]] instead of [[physics]] or [[chemistry]], to describe new species of [[microorganism]]s and [[plant]]s designed to meet human needs. He argued that such technologies would be based on [[solar power]] rather than the [[fossil fuel]]s whose use he saw as part of what he calls "gray technologies" of industry. He believed that [[Genetic engineering|genetically engineered]] crops, which he described as green, can help end [[rural poverty]], with a movement based in [[ethics]] to end the inequitable [[distribution of wealth]] on the planet.{{sfn|Shwartz|2001}}