By T.K. Randall
January 9, 2023 · 3 comments
Imagine an immortal Elon Musk with 100 times the wealth… Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Steve Jurvetson
If it’s possible to slow down or stop the aging process, chances are it’s the richest among us who will be the first to take advantage.
Mankind has been obsessed with gaining immortality for thousands of years, but even despite the incredible advances in science and medicine achieved over the last few centuries, our species still remains just as vulnerable to the aging process as our ancestors were millions of years ago.
In the not-too-distant future, however, advances in medical technology could very realistically offer the opportunity to turn back the clock and might eventually be able to stop it entirely.
But assuming such treatments would be fairly expensive, it is reasonable to assume that it is the very rich who will have exclusive early access to anything of this nature, extending their lives far beyond the natural life-span of the vast majority of the world’s population.
In a recent article in the Financial Times, Christopher Wareham – a bioethicist at Utrecht University – painted a rather disturbing picture of a future dominated by these wealthy immortals.
Suffice to say, if it is possible to acquire billions of dollars in personal wealth over a standard lifetime, someone who might live for centuries could see their wealth compound to astronomical levels.
“Suppose, for example, we had a kind of vaccine for the pandemic of age,” said Wareham.
“This is going to potentially exacerbate all the kinds of existing inequalities that we have… ”
“The longer you’re around, the more your wealth compounds, and the wealthier you are, the more political influence you have.”
This means that we could see, for instance, ageless trillionaires with enough power and money to influence major world events and shape the very future of our civilization.
Given the influence individuals like Elon Musk have today, it’s not difficult to imagine what might be possible if someone like that happened to live for several centuries.
Source: Futurism | Comments (3)
