Walter,
Check out the following site:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/98/0126/6102076a.htm
kamesh.
ps: 1.This could be a prediction similar to what you mentioned.
2. Steven Brenner, the author of cgi-lib.pl, went back to grad
school after several years of work. He is currently working
in Computational Biology. He should be able to answer your
questions.