Return of the GenRich?
Why do people like to talk up the idea of new species of people? Lee Silver did it back in the last century, with his GenRich and Naturals. Now California futurist Paul Saffo is quoted in the London Daily Telegraph as saying that the rich "may evolve into separate species."
That's the headline, but it's a slight misquote. Saffo didn't say "evolve" and was probably being metaphorical. He is rightly concerned that unequal access to tailor-made drugs and replacement organs would be "social dynamite." He discussed this and many other topics in a long interview with the London Sunday Times. The Telegraph grabbed what they saw as the juiciest bit and ran with it, including the image and caption above.
But why did they select that idea (and distort it)? And why was the Telegraph piece quoted around the blogosphere? Apparently some people are really fascinated with the idea of post-humans, to the point of reading it into otherwise uncontroversial discussions.
Andrew Leonard of Salon has an appropriately skeptical take:
Isn't it just as likely that [the rich will] all redesign themselves in different, innovative ways, and then discover that they are biologically incompatible and incapable of reproducing? Problem solved.
And he adds:
There's an easy way to avoid this dystopian future in which the descendants of Bill Gates and Lloyd Blankfein are born with immaculate complexions, huge brains, and the ability to run 40 yards in under 4.0 seconds. Tax the hell out of the rich, and use it to pay for healthcare for the rest of us neo-Neanderthals. Problem solved, again.
Previously on Biopolitical Times: