Will the Rich Evolve Into Different Species?
The rich have already created their own country. Are they about to create their own species?
Futurologist Paul Saffo says rapid advances in biotechnology will enable people to grow their own replacement organs, take specially tailored drugs and use robots and artificial limbs to live longer.
But, he says, the advances will be affordable only by the super-rich. That raises the prospect of a new, biological divide between the classes, with the "rich evolving into a different species entirely, leaving his not-so-rich counterpart behind."
"I sometimes wonder if the very rich can live, on average, 20 years longer than the poor. That's 20 more years of earning and saving. Think about wealth and power and the advantages that you pass on to your children."
This is, of course, a disturbing and somewhat shocking prospect. Our wealth divide could become a health divide, which would further increase the wealth divide.
But is it realistic?
For one, we already have a health divide, where the wealthy receive (on the whole) much better care and technological benefits than the nonwealthy. Indeed, they have enjoyed better health care for centuries, and they have yet to form a race of super-rich cyborgs–-in part because the wealthy in America is a fluid and rapidly changing group.
What is more, advances in health care have tended to spread rapidly from the rich to everyone else. Just like computers, gadgets or cars, health-care technology that at first is priced solely for the wealthy is quickly scaled to larger markets and sold en masse.
Still, we have never seen the potential for bio-tech advancements like we see today coupled of course with growing global inequality.
Do you think the rich will create their own super-race? And what would it look like?
Futurologist Paul Saffo says rapid advances in biotechnology will enable people to grow their own replacement organs, take specially tailored drugs and use robots and artificial limbs to live longer.
But, he says, the advances will be affordable only by the super-rich. That raises the prospect of a new, biological divide between the classes, with the "rich evolving into a different species entirely, leaving his not-so-rich counterpart behind."
"I sometimes wonder if the very rich can live, on average, 20 years longer than the poor. That's 20 more years of earning and saving. Think about wealth and power and the advantages that you pass on to your children."
This is, of course, a disturbing and somewhat shocking prospect. Our wealth divide could become a health divide, which would further increase the wealth divide.
But is it realistic?
For one, we already have a health divide, where the wealthy receive (on the whole) much better care and technological benefits than the nonwealthy. Indeed, they have enjoyed better health care for centuries, and they have yet to form a race of super-rich cyborgs–-in part because the wealthy in America is a fluid and rapidly changing group.
What is more, advances in health care have tended to spread rapidly from the rich to everyone else. Just like computers, gadgets or cars, health-care technology that at first is priced solely for the wealthy is quickly scaled to larger markets and sold en masse.
Still, we have never seen the potential for bio-tech advancements like we see today coupled of course with growing global inequality.
Do you think the rich will create their own super-race? And what would it look like?
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2009/10/28/will-the-rich-evolve-into-different-species/
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