In Bruce Sterling's Wired column this month, he takes an amazing, science-fictional view of how an internetworked world is likely to upend the creaking, corrupt US health-care "system."
Aging boomers flock to longevity spas, which dispense radical rejuvenation procedures in the guise of elder care. The neglected elderly embrace biotech research considered outré by mainstream medicine: gene therapy, stem cell-driven organ regeneration, designer drugs that restrict caloric intake. Abandoned by their best customers, GPs and gerontologists close the blinds and go home.
What are the prospects? Sure, this notion would create a playground for transhumanists and life-extension quacks. But efficacy is moot – the booming elder population has little to lose and is too weak to sue with much enthusiasm. If zealots can deliver even vaguely effective anti-aging treatments to desperate elders, they could have a huge impact on the system. And some of us might even live longer, better, and with more money in our pockets.
