Will the rich still be human in the future? Are they now?
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Yesterday one of the homeless men who stands near my building yelled at me for being a rich bitch. He was right- not about the rich, but the bitch. I was purposefully ignoring him, trying to hear a message on my phone, not even giving him the “Sorry, I don’t have any change” response that would have at least made me seem human in his eyes and acknowledge that I saw him as human as well.
In the future, though, a homeless person can call a middle-class person like myself just a bitch. That’s because the rich will look really different than us ordinary mortals. No, I don’t mean they’re going to look like Madonna, strangely frozen in time through the wonders of cosmetic surgery and spending all day with personal trainers. What I mean is the rich will no longer look human.
That’s because in the future the rich are going to take advantage of medical technologies- like growing extra kidneys and replacing stupid human hands with robotic ones- and evolve into a separate species. At least that’s the prediction of one Mr. Paul Saffo.
in the future people will be able to grow their own replacement organs, take specially tailored drugs, and use genetic research tools to alert them from any possible hereditary health dangers.
He adds that tomorrow’s world will be a fusion of biology and technology, where robots do the chores, cars drive themselves and artificial limbs are better than real ones.
But Mr Saffo says these improvements would only be affordable to the super-rich. And because of this, he says, advancements may lead to a divide between the classes and eventually could lead to the super-rich evolving into a different species entirely, leaving his not-so-rich counterpart behind.
Rich ‘may evolve into separate species’ – Telegraph.
Saffo is basing his claims off the much more utopian notions of Ray Kurzweil, who last month predicted that anyone alive in 2040 or 2050 could be immortal. Kurzweil says that with nanotechnologies as developed as they are, and if technological development continues at a similar pace, we’ll be able to insert tiny robot type things into our bodies to repair any cell damage, eat up any cancers, and generally keep us alive for at least a thousand years.
But Kurzweil is living in La La Land. Not because he thinks immortality is possible, but because he thinks these technologies will be widely available. Saffo’s right to point out that the rich will have access; the rest of us will not.
The super rich already limit healthcare (e.g. Obama’s kids can get an H1N1 vaccine, but yours and mine have to wait and if you’re homeless and therefore especially at risk of dying from the virus, well, actually, we’ll just keep ignoring you). And because of that, the super rich accumulate even more wealth.
Still, some questions remain unanswered: Will the rich actually become a separate species in the future? Will the rich still be human? Are they now?
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If compassion defines you as human…you tell me.
I’m worried about the fact that we only seem to have two mentalities in the US: the rich and the would-be rich. The American Dream gone cancerous.
Does anyone, anywhere, accept the idea of mortality, modesty, humility? While some 40 million Americans get too little medical care, the vast majority get too much. Between our acceptance of huge health industry profits (we identify with them on some level) and our high demand for life without pain or death it is no wonder that we spend 2.5 times per capita what the British spend on medical (health?) care.
Inadvertently, it is this demand coupled with some perverse idea of democracy (if the rich can live forever, wouldn’t it be undemocratic if we don’t get to live forever?) that has driven health care costs to the brink. Democracy needs to set a place at the table for the unborn and for mute species.
I don’t blame it (growing disparity bordering on speciation) on the rich without blaming the middle-class’s tacit acceptance of this system. Huge numbers of American’s vote against their class interests. Karl Rove couldn’t have tapped into this if we weren’t receptive to it.
Sorry, I digress, but only somewhat.
Mr. Saffo then proceeded to ‘make love’ to his 3D printer while his intern clubbed him over the head with copies of William Gibson’s ‘Sprawl’ trilogy. As his eyes rolled back in his head like a junkie getting his fix, “Kurzweil’s got it all wrong” fell sloppily out the side of his mouth, mid-thrust. “Who will need to transfer their consciousness to the digital world when we free ourselves from Mazlowe’s heirarchy in the real world?”
His knees buckled. He was starting to fade. “Personally, I can’t wait to replace my stomach with a pool of algae.” He punctuated the end of his session – and our interview – by rolling up a volume of Warren Ellis’s ‘Transmetropolitan’ and knocking his intern out cold. Poor bastards.
So far anyway, there’s always that grid. Turn it off and where are they. In the same place everyone else is. Ignorant and in the dark …
The only thing I would quibble with here is the comment that this will happen “in the future.” Our so-called glorious post-human future is already here. For example, ambitious 20-somethings on Wall Street put in tons of long focussed hours armed with Adderall and Concerta, medications used to treat ADD but here used to enhance attention to gain a competitive edge.
Of the two dystopias, 1984 and Brave New World, it is BNW that has proven to be the more prophetic. Technology has always given us the opportunity to avoid questions of right and wrong. Better living through . . . . whatcha got?
In response to another comment. See in context »Your right, Bob. Drugs are a solely modern way for people to alter their perceptions and mood. BNW was ground-breaking in predicting this. I’m going to go find Huxley’s grave so I can sit on it and smoke a very 21st century joint laced with 21st century opium while drinking a 21st century alcoholic beverage.
In response to another comment. See in context »It’s true- and even 20 somethings on Wall St freeze their faces with Botox so as to never experience a human expression (or get a wrinkle). But still, once the rich are all super shiny and metalic, with robotic limbs and super speed, it will be a lot easier to spot ‘em on the street.