Three Wishes Colin Farrelly Queen's University Journal of Evolution and Technology -
Vol. 20 Issue 1 – December 2008 - pgs 23-28 Preamble:
“Three Three p Genie: Good afternoon!
I am a genie. Mind you, I’m not your regular kind of genie.
My friends say I’m a bit “eccentric.” Condition
#1:
Your wish must be for something that explicitly benefits humanity in general,
not any named individual. I can’t stand egoists who wish riches for themselves!
Condition
#2:
You cannot wish for something that you believe is impossible to achieve in the
real world. So no flying pigs or bringing people back from the grave. If you violate one of these
two conditions, your wish will be invalidated. So, what shall it be? Student
#1:
Well, it might be tough to get all three of us to agree on our wishes since we
are philosophers and love to debate. And there are many worthy causes. But
without a doubt I think the most important thing would be to eradicate global poverty. I spent three
months as a visiting student in a developing country last summer and I think it
is tragic that so many people still live in severe poverty. So that is my wish.
Genie: Excellent! Very
noble. Student
#2:
My mother died of breast cancer at the age of 55. And I don’t want anyone else
to lose a loved one like I did. My wish is to eradicate all human disease. Genie: Very good!
Another noble choice. Student
#3:
Given that poverty and disease would be eradicated, I need a few minutes to
think about what my wish would be. I also recently lost a loved one. My
grandfather was one of the most important persons in my life. Last summer, he
fell and broke his hip. He never recovered from that injury, and after three
months of pain and suffering he finally passed away. I wish I could see him
alive again, playing baseball with me like he did when I was a kid. But I know
the constraints on the wish mean I cannot wish for that. Let me think…. I know! I
wish for human senescence to be
eliminated. Student
#1:
What do you mean? Student
#3:
I wish that no person would ever have to suffer the physical and mental
disadvantages that come with growing old. Student
#1:
So you want everyone to live forever? To be immortal! That violates condition
#2. Student
#3:
My wish is not for immortality. I simply wish to remove the obstacles that
aging itself imposes on our health prospects. People may still die if they are
in accidents, etc. But the passage of time, in particular the damage it does to
our cells, would not cause us to die or become frail Student
#2:
But that is not possible! It’s simply a fact of the immutable human condition
that we grow old. So your wish will be wasted since it violates condition #2. Student
#3:
How do you know? Besides, do you think eliminating aging is any more impossible
than eliminating disease, ALL human
diseases? There are over two hundred forms of cancer alone. And the reason we
develop disease has to do with our evolutionary legacies. I recall learning
about this in my biology lecture. Student
#2:
What, the class with Dr. Johnson ? You only went to the lectures
because he looks like Karl Marx! Student
#3:
No seriously, the reality is we are intrinsically vulnerable to disease. As a
species we have evolved through a blind process, sometimes changing by
accident, other times for adaptive reasons. And the legacies of our evolutionary
history have brought the various limitations
and trade-offs that make us susceptible to things like cancer. So if my wish
violates condition #2, then so does
yours. Curing all the thousands of diseases we are vulnerable to be sounds more
fantastical than modifying our biology to be immune to aging. Student
#1:
Can’t you pick something else, like world peace or combating climate change? Student
#3:
I don’t think world peace will be a real problem in a world with no poverty.
Remember what we learned about Marx. Student
#2:
Oh no! Here we go with Marx. Student
#3:
Serious conflicts like war arise because of what is going on in the material conditions of life. Without
poverty there is no reason for prolonged, serious conflict. Student
#1:
What about religion? That has caused many wars in human history. Genie: Sigh… I had to
get a group of philosophers! What did I do to deserve this? Student
#3:
Yeah, I thought about the role of religion as well. Marxists believe that
religious conflict is really ultimately about economics. So if we Student
#1:
I can’t believe you are invoking Marx to determine the future of humanity! Student
#3:
Hey! Its my wish so I will wish for what I think is right. Now I’m a little
unsure if it is actually possible to eliminate human senescence completely. So
to be on the safe side I will revise my wish to retarding aging so that we
maximize the number of healthy years it is possible for a person to have. I
know that it is possible to slow the aging process down. Scientists have had
some real success with this in laboratory experiments, just as they have with
gene therapy experiments for cancer and other diseases. So my wish is no more
impossible than the wish to eradicate disease. Student
#2:
Perhaps, but at least my wish is laudable, and will contribute great benefits
to the future of humanity. Genie: Ok, it sounds
like the three of you have pretty much made up your mind. So it is now time for
me to inform you about the second stage of your task. All
three students: H Genie:
I
told you I was eccentric! I can’t actually make any of your wishes come true
myself, but what I can do is take your wishes to the United Nations where I am
held in rather high esteem. I will present your list of wishes to the nations
of the world and they will make these three wishes the world’s top priorities.
Everyone in the world will work hard to make them a reality. All
three students: Wow, cool! Genie: However, you
have one more thing to decide. And it concerns the ordering of your wishes. The first option is to The second option is to
permit compromises and tradeoffs to be made between your three wishes. In other
words, the particular policies that the world’s governments pursue (to combat
poverty, disease and aging) will be influenced by a range of feasibility
considerations, rather than the rigid priority rule of the first option. This
second option permits a more flexible and provisional stance, basically leaving
the question of what the best means to
achieve these goals are to political leaders, policy experts, scientists, etc., to sort
out rather than to you. So if these experts decide, for example, that
fulfilling one of these goals might be more cost-effective in the short-term,
and thus better position them to tackle more challenging goals in the
long-term, they will pursue such strategies. So those are the two options. The
first is more rigid, the second more flexible and provisional. Please take some
time to think it over and let me know your decision. Student
#1:
Well, I think we can all agree that retarding aging is the last on the list. I
think eliminating poverty should be first, and eliminating disease second. Student
#2:
No, I think my wish to eradicate disease should be first. It is better to be
alive than die of disease, even if you are alive and poor. Student
#1:
I don’t know about that, but poverty is a major cause of disease so if you
eradicate poverty you are, at least to some extent, reducing susceptibility to
disease. So if you eliminate poverty first, you will indirectly be furthering
your wish anyways. Student
#2: Well, I would rather permit these kinds of tradeoffs to actually be
made by policymakers rather than leaving it to chance. If what you say is
correct we can just choose the second, more flexible, option and then
governments can decide for themselves what is more feasible Student
#3:
Hey, what about my wish to retard aging? That is also important you know. Student
#2:
Important? You need to get your priorities right. There is no moral obligation
to keep people alive for longer. Extending people’s lives is not the same as saving their lives. Student
#3:
But what is the difference? What you propose doing, by curing cancer, is to add
extra years of health to people’s lives. Student
#2:
Yes, but these benefits are to the people who develop disease, not those who
die from old age. Student
#3:
But who do you think typically, though I admit not exclusively, develops
cancer? Who do you think is most vulnerable to chronic illness? The elderly!
Age is a major risk factor for disease. And you mentioned the socio-economic
costs of cancer. Consider what the costs of aging are. Every year millions of
once skilled and productive contributors permanently leave the work force due
to age and they consume a disproportionate share of finite medical resources.
Simply expanding the healthspan of individuals, so that they have an extra ten
or twenty years with the levels of health and vigor they typically have during
their “prime” adult years, would bring enormous individual and societal
benefits. And this is something that could actually be achieved in the
not-so-distant future. Besides, if you retard aging
you help everyone, not just the “best off.” It seems odd to call the elderly
the better off, doesn’t it? If you really think that then I assume you also
think we should deny the elderly healthcare more generally. And that is
obviously unfair. Besides, today’s young are tomorrow’s elderly. If you retard
aging you expand the opportunity for healthy living for everyone, including
future generations. There are no winners or losers. Every single person is
better off living in a world with greater opportunities for healthy living. Student
#1:
But what about the world’s poor? Your wish doesn’t help them. Student
#3:
Granted,
my wish alone will not solve all the world’s problems. But we should not
overlook the benefits it will also confer on the world’s impoverished nations.
I know you guys do not like Marx but I feel compelled to bring Marx up again. According
to Marx, the real driving force in human history is labor power such as human
knowledge and ingenuity. Now unfortunately we are naturally designed in such a
way that, despite the vast amounts of knowledge, wisdom and expertise we
develop in the course of our lifetime, aging eventually strips us of these
goods. Historically it has been the case that every society is constantly and
incrementally starting afresh as those with a life-time of experience and
knowledge pass away and new people enter the world. And this imposes enormous
transition costs. These new people must be taught and trained, etc. And
eventually, once they have acquired
skills and wisdom they too will pass… and so on. Now imagine what society
could accomplish with a healthy productive workforce that has been able to
retain, for a much longer period of time, its health, knowledge, wisdom and
expertise! Healthy, productive human beings are the most valuable resource for any society, rich or poor. So my
wish helps everyone. Student
#2:
I’m confused now. I mean, it sounds like I want what you want. Namely, to
increase the opportunities for healthy living. I guess I see disease as the
biggest obstacle to this goal. Student
#3:
I agree that disease is a big obstacle, but it alone is not the only obstacle.
Furthermore, age and disease are intimately linked. What we both want is to
increase the amount of disease-free years people can enjoy. I do not think we
can ever completely eliminate disease. So we risk losing your wish if we do not
sort this out. Student
#2:
Ok, maybe I could modify my wish so that my wish is for humanity to enjoy the
greatest amount of healthy living it is possible to achieve. Student
#3:
And that is the same thing I wish for! I think our disagreement was really
about the finer details of how we can best achieve this goal. That is, through
tackling each disease, one at a time, or through retarding aging. We ourselves
are not in a position to resolve this difficult and complex issue. If we choose
the second ordering option we can leave the empirical considerations, like what
science can actually achieve and the costs and benefits of different
strategies, to scientists and policymakers. Our contribution is to clarify what
the ultimate goals, or “first principles,” Student
#2:
Agreed, so I change my wish from eradicating all human disease to maximizing
the number of healthy years afforded to all people. Genie: That means you
still have a third wish to make, since you have collapsed the wish to eradicate
disease and retard aging into this single wish to maximize the human
healthspan. Student
#3:
Well in that case, I wish we could have a sustainable environment for all
future generations to enjoy! Student
#1:
That’s more like it! Now you have your priorities straight. So our three wishes
are to eradicate poverty, maximize the human healthspan and have a sustainable
environment. And we choose the second regulatory option. We will not rank these
three goals. Reasonable compromises and tradeoffs must and should be made when
aspiring to fulfill all three goals. A world where these three goals are the
top priorities is a world we would be proud to live in. Genie: Well, I must
admit I am impressed at how the three of you arrived at your wish list. You
really thought things over and found some areas of genuine agreement. I guess
all those philosophy courses you are taking really paid off. Now let’s see what
the world’s political leaders, policy analysts and scientists do with your wish
list. I truly hope that the combination of your well-founded moral aspirations,
coupled with their practical knowledge of how best to make progress on these
laudable aims, will lead humanity to a brighter future. I wish you the best of
luck! All
three students: Thanks! |