I didn't propose any solution at all. Merely point out that it will be a very difficult problem indeed. Technology seems to be bringing us to a point where indefinite life extension is possible at exponentially increasing cost.
Eventually the simple reality will be that there are more people whose lives could be extended than can be extended, even with our entire economic output allocated to that purpose.
We correctly recoil in horror at the thought of "fair and impartial" authorities rationing those resources because we instinctively know that once government gets involved, those decisions will be anything but fair and impartial. At the same time, it doesn't seem that the free market as it is now will perform any better because health care is a completely inelastic good and the "free" has been riddled with monopoly and regulatory capture. Either way, right now it looks like the rich and influential win disproportionately at the dire expense of the less well off. This is the big looming problem.
It's a deep rabbit hole, but the point is, it's a tough puzzle. It might take moral mettle equal to or even greater than winning a global war against a genocidal madman bent on world domination to solve it. We've got our work cut out for us and then some.
Eventually the simple reality will be that there are more people whose lives could be extended than can be extended, even with our entire economic output allocated to that purpose.
We correctly recoil in horror at the thought of "fair and impartial" authorities rationing those resources because we instinctively know that once government gets involved, those decisions will be anything but fair and impartial. At the same time, it doesn't seem that the free market as it is now will perform any better because health care is a completely inelastic good and the "free" has been riddled with monopoly and regulatory capture. Either way, right now it looks like the rich and influential win disproportionately at the dire expense of the less well off. This is the big looming problem.
It's a deep rabbit hole, but the point is, it's a tough puzzle. It might take moral mettle equal to or even greater than winning a global war against a genocidal madman bent on world domination to solve it. We've got our work cut out for us and then some.