Distribution of life extension treatments
Questions:
- Historically, how have new biomedical treatments been distributed?
- What was the delay for e.g. the poor, less developed countries in receiving treatment?
- What does the distribution currently look like for treatments that have been around for a while?
- What is the distribution like as a function of e.g. the cost, the importance (how life-threatening is it?) of the treatment?
- Given the answers to the above, what can we say about the distribution of life extension treatments?
Could the availability of treatment lead to violence or social instability? For instance de Grey1:
Overpopulation, probably the most frequently cited drawback of curing aging, could not result for many decades, but the same cannot be said for breadth of access irrespective of ability to pay: in a post-9/11 world, restricted availability of rejuvenation therapies resembling that seen today with AIDS drugs would invite violence on a scale that, shall we say, might be worth trying to avoid.
See also John K. Davis in “Collective Suttee: Is It Unjust to Develop Life Extension if It Will Not Be Possible to Provide It to Everyone?”
