Turned out that the zinc finger they got... was the middle one ?
The problem is clear enough... given the year of delay we've endured, from the prior generation that failed the last time they said they were "ramping up production", to the current one that they hope won't fail... while again saying they're "ramping up production"... just like last time.
Even assuming that they're able to "ramp up" this time without experiencing the same or similar failure as they had last year...
EVERY time they want to make any change... they have to do the same thing all over again... and until there is a whole new population created, that survives, and succeeds in munching down the worm chow on a large scale ? You're ALWAYS stuck in that endlessly repeating loop. Every new fiber will take years from proof of concept to implementation... for the same reason.
When Amsilk figures out a new chemistry... they turn on the machine and make the new fiber... and keep making the fiber until they turn the machine off. They'll produce it on demand... and with massively shorter lead times tied to SCALABLE fermentation organism life cycles, and not a silk worm's longer cycles.
And then... AMSilk won't have to operate a worm ranch... or undertake the labor to grow, harvest and process fiber one cocoon at a time... instead of producing as much as they want, in a single continuous strand, on demand.
When KBLB figures out something they want to do... a year later they're "ramping up" and hoping it will take... and then still have some long lag period before the new worms can produce fibers in numbers enough to matter... etc, etc.
KBLB is PERMANENTLY behind... already... and forever...
AMSilk can spin a fiber... and KBLB can't.
AMSilk can put new concepts into production rapidly... KBLB can't.
AMSilk can make SPIDER SILK from nothing but spider proteins... and KBLB makes worm silk with some variable amount of spider protein in it... depending on what the worms feel like.
AMSilk can make consistently uniform continuous fibers engineered to a uniform property, repeatedly... on demand... and KBLB can't.
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