i guess we're due for DRM built into the corn seeds/DNA. And in some near future one can imagine human designer genes with DRM too. You lose connection or skip monthly payment and your 3rd eye stops working...
Or the development of seeds whose plants do not bear further seeds. Impossible with corn, which is entirely seeds, but possible with many fruits (apples, oranges, peaches). That way the consumer can't buy a piece fruit and plant a fruit tree... She'd have to buy the starter seeds from the company.
Call it BRM: Biological Rights (read: Restrictions) Management.
Edit: after some googling, I need to read the stories suggested by tartuffe78. They look really good.
Terminator constructs exist, and yes, in corn too. They have useful applications, such as the restriction of transgenes from entering wild populations.
Think of terminator progeny like mules; they're simply infertile.
They do have the tech for terminator genes, and I think for corn too. Basically, the corn seed is edible but it can't grow. Despite people freaking out about them, none have been marketed and companies have pledged not to sell them. Though feel free to speculate if that's because of public pressure or not.
That would be a terrible thing to sell. A farmer plants the seed, the plants grow, the pollen drifts far and wide, and the farmer next door winds up with his crop not sprouting next year. And then come the lawsuits...
That's not how terminator works, nor is that how modern agriculture works.
Fields for seed are far removed from productive fields. It's trivial to keep them separate from contamination; in fact, it's essential that this is done to make selfs or directed crosses.
Terminator was made to address concerns about transgenes entering the wild. Think of it like a mule; you still have offspring, but they're infertile. That's what terminator does. It cannot ruin a crop. Seed is still made and can be sold and eaten. It simply is infertile.
A construct was first developed by the ARS and USDA, and they were quite right to pursue this. It's a useful technology.
> possible with many fruits (apples, oranges, peaches). That way the consumer can't buy a piece fruit and plant a fruit tree
I have news for you: All apples of a certain variety (eg. all Granny Smith apples) originate from a single tree. They all originate from the same individual, same clone. Pieces of this tree have been grafted onto other trees and so on, and that is how all the Granny Smith (or any variety) in the world are produced.
To produce Granny Smith, you need a twig from a Granny Smith branch, and to graft that to another tree.
Or like Repo Men, the plot being that artificial organs are bought on credit, and if you fail to pay in time, someone will show up and reclaim the company's property.
