Unequal distribution | Injustice
Wouldn't only the rich be able to afford this future medicine?
As with any new technology, the very first generation of these treatments will be expensive. The first sequencing of a human genome cost 100 million dollars. Today it costs only a few hundred dollars.⁸ However, the concern that rejuvenation therapies will permanently remain a luxury for billionaires is refuted by basic economic principles.
Selling exclusively to the super-rich is about the worst business model imaginable. There simply are not enough billionaires in the world to maximize profit. The true market for fighting aging includes every living human being. As soon as production is ramped up to serve a global mass market, unit costs fall drastically - exactly as happened with computers, solar panels and smartphones.
The ultimate guarantee of universal access, however, is government incentives. The mental and physical decline of older people is currently the greatest financial burden on the global economy. Financing decades of care, treating chronic diseases and the loss of patients and their caregiving relatives from the workforce cost states trillions of dollars every year.⁹ As global demographics shift toward an aging population, countries that do not take preventive measures will simply go bankrupt.
For a state, it is far cheaper to subsidize medicine that keeps its citizens healthy and productive than to finance 20 years of care. Rejuvenation therapies will therefore take on the same role as clean drinking water, antibiotics or basic education: that of an indispensable public infrastructure that pays for itself.
External links on the topic of unequal distribution
Lifespan News: Age like Wolverine? David Sinclair Highlights Economic Benefits of Longevity Science