Manu Joseph: Why we should be thankful for human nature, billionaire dreams and even Donald Trump’s policies

Billionaires versus death: Billionaires do not have the heart to leave the party of life. That is where they become extremely useful to us. They are pouring billions into medical research that they will have no choice but to share with all of us someday. Their greed could help us live longer.

The superrich have been directing private capital towards curing ageing, which they consider a disease, and also other diseases no one disputes are diseases. Even though Bill Gates spends most of his philanthropic billions on the diseases that rage among the poor, he also spends sizeable amounts on finding a cure for neurodegeneration, like Alzheimer’s research.

Recently, the American Food and Drug Administration cleared a blood test for early detection of Alzheimer’s. This has excited Gates. He usually knows more than what he shares in his periodical releases. If his public optimism is any indication, we might very soon be able to prevent diseases that harm the brain.

Jeff Bezos, too, is funding research on ways to reverse cellular ageing, which would simultaneously solve cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged billions to the radical goal of curing all disease by the end of the century.

They are among the superrich of America who believe that if they can survive the next few decades, somehow push their lives another half a century, the future of science will further prolong it for them, and further advances may further this.

Some scientists claim that the future human might be able to live hundreds of years. Even if that is not true, there is no doubt that the billionaire hope of enjoying much longer lives could deliver extraordinary medical breakthroughs.

Among the big disappointments are Elon Musk’s ventures, which tend to be a bit melodramatic as though they are inspired by juvenile science fiction. His neural link might help those afflicted by paralysis and blindness, but appears to be chiefly a gamble by one man to attain eternal life by downloading his brain to a machine. His billions would be better spent on stuff that I am interested in, with my brain in my own vat.

The world is still a peaceful place: An affliction of Western anthropologists is that they appear to be constantly trying to find out what humans are “meant to do.” Always, what we are meant to do, according to them, is very different from whatever it is that we are doing right now. For some reason, “picking berries” comes up often; we are all meant to be picking berries, they say, or be doing something just as tame. But somehow, modern life interfered with this safe and pleasant task.

I look at the matter a bit differently, even though I agree that humans tend towards peaceful activities. I feel that the present world of relative calm is not in spite of human nature. Instead, it overwhelmingly reflects what people want. For, what can be greater evidence of our intentions than what billions of people do with their lives, including the 100 billion or so who are dead.

It appears that what most people want to do is live peacefully with a tight group of people. And if they are poor, escape the hard labour of agriculture and migrate to cities but retain their village inside them.

This might seem naïve in a world where war is raging as you read this. But war is big news precisely because most of the world tends towards peace. Also, it is the peaceful nature of a majority that gives some violent people, especially those who can tell a good story, a political advantage. It is as though they have a rare talent. But they are usually defeated by another set of brutal people who are promoted by a world that tends towards peace.

We live in an age where practicality has beaten ideals in many parts of the world. But that, too, is a good sign. Everyone can now see how ugly a world without ideals is, how unremarkable and unsafe. This might be the peak of practicality and it may be time for the world to swing back towards ideals.

How Trump may create a better world: We tend to think of illegal migration to America as an activity of the poor. There has to be some truth in it, but if you consider the Indian stories, those who were put in jumpsuits and flown back to India in chains, many of them claimed to have paid tens of lakhs of rupees to agents to smuggle them into the US. That is not the sort of activity the poor can afford. At least one part of illegal migration to the US appeared to be a middle-class activity. US President Donald Trump has put an end to it by instilling fear.

He has also made it difficult for the Indian upper class to legally emigrate or work there. All this has made very expensive one of the great Indian dreams, which is to escape India. As a consequence, a new generation of upper class and middle-class Indians might be more invested in improving India, the way that previous generations were not.

This cannot be just an Indian phenomenon. The economic and social elite of several Asian countries used to escape to the US and practice long-distance nationalism. Now they have an opportunity to be patriotic on the soil they claim to love.

Every advanced nation was built by its elite, while most developing nations have not enjoyed the fervour of true upper class nation-building, the type India witnessed right after independence. Now, that can happen. Or should happen.

The author is a journalist, novelist, and the creator of the Netflix series, ‘Decoupled’