Another reason i think is that life sciences applications are inherently difficult for ethical reasons. It's one thing to risk a few people's lives who get sent to space once in a blue moon, and another to purposefully put the lives of patients at risk experimenting. On the other hand, experimenting with computers is harmless.
In the sci-fi stories of a libertarian bent, ethics were a little more mutable in the search of their ultimate goals. Such externalities were often avoided or ignored.
