Extract from #transhumancode health chapter. The future is here. It’s all around us.

And yet more progress is required to ensure vast numbers of people on the planet are not left behind.

For example, the developing countries must benefit from the cure of very basic sickness that are still killing millions of people, diseases like malaria and other viral infections. As these sicknesses are eradicated, the life expectancy in many countries, which is still very low, will improve substantially.

Human life is being extended, and questions about equality are emerging. People with money will be able to access very complex solutions, allowing them to live longer than most, if they wish. Age will no longer limit us to the extent it has in history thus far.

Will the concept of death fade away if you have the money to sustain your health, artificially or otherwise? In the very least, life expectancy will be determined more and more by one’s personal resources.

Perhaps this isn’t all that different than the world we live in now where citizens in developed nations have access to cutting edge advances that developing nations don’t.

The path emerging, however, will put more power in the hands of individuals. The question is whether this will allow for more or less sharing of resources. At a national level, the world has yet to figure out how to equalize resources. Perhaps we, as individuals united by the pursuit of life and not by nationality, can do better.

This is where the key questions surrounding health emerge. How much will one’s personal wealth determine the kind of treatment that is received?

At what point does the extension of one’s life become less desirable when measured against the quality of one’s life? Will we trust AI as it takes on a larger role in our health?

Whose desires in regard to treatment, life, and ultimately death will take precedence: the patient’s, the patient’s family, or the interests of the state or some other ruling body?

We are on the cusp of redefining what is possible when it comes to global health. We need to know what we’re ultimately after before we get there. The more united we are, the more progress we can make.

If we remain fractured, a dangerous detachment is likely.