"If We Are Able To Cure Aging, It Will Only Benefit The Ultra Rich"

[applegrove]

If We Are Able To Cure Aging, It Will Only Benefit The Ultra Rich

by George Monbiot at the Guardian

http://www.businessinsider.com/if-we-are-able-to-cure-aging-it-will-only-benefit-the-ultra-rich-2014-7

"SNIP.......................


Once it was a myth. Now it's a dream. And soon it will be an expectation. Suddenly the science of life extension is producing remarkable results. New papers hint at the possibility of treatments that could radically increase human longevity.

...........

This takes us to another concern he dismisses: "Dictators would rule for ever." Is this proposition (if not taken literally) ridiculous? They hang on long enough already, with the help of the best healthcare their stolen billions can buy. Match the political power longevity offers with the economic power, and it's not impossible to see how a thousand-year life could lead to a thousand-year reich.

De Grey's mockery becomes most offensive at his fourth rhetorical question: "What about starving Africans?" Yes, what about them? What if, beyond a certain point, longevity becomes a zero-sum game? What if every year of life extension for those who can afford the treatment becomes a year or more of life reduction for those who can't?

Already, on this planet of finite resources, rich and poor are locked into unacknowledged conflict, as hyperconsumption reduces the planet's capacity to sustain life. Grain is used to produce meat rather than feed people directly; the safe operating space for humanity is narrowed by greenhouse gases, industrial pollutants, freshwater depletion and soil erosion. It's hard, after a while, to see how this could produce any outcome other than a direct competition for the means of life, which some must win and others must lose. Perhaps the rich must die so that the poor can live.

.......................SNIP"

[Anansi1171]

1. This "Elysium" meme and the Transhuman aspirations of the 1%..

...are very prevalent right now. The need of these people to horde resources, wall themselves off and live forever. Was that Peter Thiel who wants to build his own island where he can truly practice freedom - where he can be an island unto himself.All that wealth and such inherent insecurity.


We need Prometheus to steal fire from the wealth-appointed Gods. And if the 1% want to behave in fact like a cancer on the human body, we should regard them as a disease.

[applegrove]

2. And why should humanity allocate 1000 year life spans to the rich. Should not the quota, and there

will have to be one since the world can't handle more than 15 Billion people so most have to die, should not the quota spots go to Maya Angelou and characters such as that.

[RKP5637]

3. Some extremely smart and capable people are not rich, that, will be the undoing of the parasites. nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

4. Refer also to a related post: The Robot/Computer Singularity is Predicted for 2040 – 2045....

The Robot/Computer Singularity is Predicted for 2040 – 2045, But Will The Human Race Kill Itself Off

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5199614

..and watch out for the hall monitors who want posts like these in creative speculation.