Earth Will Be Home to ‘Posh, Privileged Zombies’, UK Tech Guru Warns
Copyright Belters News
Billionaires will soon be able to use their vast wealth to buy life-extending pills – leading to a planet of “posh, privileged zombies”, one of Britain’s most successful technology entrepreneurs has warned.
Phil Cleary, the founder of The SmartWater Group, said AI and biotechnology are evolving at such a rapid pace that anti-ageing tablets might only be a matter of years away.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and ChatGPT’s Sam Altman are among the latest in a long line of American tycoons to throw their wealth behind regenerative medicine.
Their aim is to increase life expectancy with drugs and other technologies that make the body’s cells stay younger and disease-free for longer.
But Cleary, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for his contribution to British industry, said Silicon Valley moguls should “quit playing God” in their race to conquer death.
Instead, they should use their huge fortunes to help the world’s poorest children survive at least into adulthood, he added.
Rather than prolonging the lives of the rich elite, their money would be better spent on the world’s 5million children who die of hunger and from other preventable, treatable causes every year.
If their multi-billion-dollar investments were funnelled into humanitarian aid, and not into “legacy-building ventures”, hundreds of millions of young lives would be saved, he added.
Cleary, the author of ‘Elixir’, a novel that explores the damaging consequences of life-extending drugs on society, said the quest for the holy grail of medicine is an “ego-driven folly” that risks creating a planet packed with “posh, privileged zombies”.
He said: “At the rate technology is evolving, it will only be a matter of time before life-extending drugs become freely available to those who can afford them.
“But Silicon Valley’s dogged pursuit of the fountain of youth is a fear-led, ego-driven folly that comes at a terrible humanitarian cost to the planet and to its most vulnerable inhabitants.
“A pill that keeps people alive, even by a few decades, would create an unjust, inequitable world packed with posh, privileged zombies – predominately white, middle-class folk who could afford to buy the drugs in the first place.
“The billionaires behind this dangerous research should therefore quit playing God and revaluate what ‘life’ really means.
“Keeping children alive until at least their 18th birthday is unquestionably more important to humanity than extending the run of those privileged few who have already had the chance to see the world, to have children of their own, and to realise
their own special ambitions.”
Around 100,000 people die from age-related diseases every day, according to the World Health Organization, yet scientists have long been divided about what causes ageing and what, if anything, can be done about it.
While ageing itself does not directly kill people, older people are at risk of many deadly diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer.
Some believe that mitochondria – the cell batteries – could be responsible. Over time, these are thought to produce unstable compounds which damage, or age, important molecules and proteins.
Others reckon ageing may be caused by ‘senescent’, or older cells that are not cleared out by the body’s waste system as they become dormant.
The only proven way to prevent ageing is to restrict calories to around two thirds of usual intake, which has been shown in animals to extend lifespan by around 50 per cent. For humans that would mean potentially living to 180.
But anti-ageing research is progressing rapidly as scientists seek to uncover and control the molecular processes of ageing.
In July, researchers at MRC Laboratory of Medical Science, Imperial College London and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore announced the discovery of a new drug that increased the lifespans of laboratory mice by nearly 25 per cent.
Dozens of high-profile businessmen have thrown their weight and money behind biotechnology start-ups that are specifically focused on extending the human lifespan.
Jeff Bezos is reported to have invested USD$3billion – the biggest biotechnology company launch of all time – in Altos Labs, while PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel invested in the Methuselah Foundation, which has the goal of making “90 the new
50”.
And in April last year, ChatGPT founder Sam Altman was revealed to have funded biotech startup Retro BioScience to the tune of USD$180million.
According to its website, Retro BioScience focuses on ‘cellular reprogramming’ and is less than four years away from developing a clinical proof-of-concept.
Cleary, whose SmartWater technology is used by more than two million people in over 20 countries worldwide, accepted that life-extending medication would benefit many people whose lives would otherwise be cut short due to terminal illness.
But he warned that drugs with such power would only be sold at a premium, meaning that most of the world’s population could never afford them.
He added: “Before extending the lives of the privileged few, surely mankind must first focus on extending the lives, if only for a few years, of the millions of children who die of starvation.”
Theologian Dr Niamh Middleton, of the University of Dublin, agreed and said humanity “could be lost forever” if Silicon Valley succeeded in its goal.
“Aside from the many religious arguments, God’s divine plan among them, I would think it safe to say that humanity could be lost forever as we know if life-extending drugs are brought to the market by private companies for commercial gain.
“In our pursuit of extending life, let us first turn our attention to the most vulnerable among us. Rather than focusing on costly measures for personal longevity, let us channel our resources and efforts towards eradicating the scourge of childhood starvation, reflecting the true Christian call to compassion and justice.”
