Perhaps you too have thought about laser eye surgery to fix nearsightedness or other common ailments. I remember when these surgeries first came along. One comment from my older brother stuck with me: “Let them experiment on the rich first.” Presumably the technicians who do these procedures would get better and better and cheaper and cheaper until we would obviously want these surgeries, too. Of course, back then my brother could afford to wait – he had perfect eyesight. I didn’t but the philosophy intrigues me.
What a way to go in a capitalist society. We can let the rich experiment on themselves and pay a premium for the privilege. Entrepreneurs managed to kill two birds with one stone. Sure the lucky rich get a return of perfect eyesight before anyone else but not all of the rich have been so lucky.
So when cell phones successfully invaded and all I had was a landline, I didn’t cry myself to sleep at night because I didn’t have one. Researchers are still doing experiments on the rich and it still seems up in the air whether cell phones can cause brain or other cancers and tumours. Personally, I think some of the studies that say ‘no’ are pushed by the cell phone ‘military industrial complex’.
Still I wonder if some of the rich have learned about being experimented on. Third world countries now have some cell phones. These are some of the first phones they’ve ever had. Apparently it’s cheaper when starting from scratch, to have the odd cell phone tower here and there.
So some of the people being experimented on with cell phones aren’t rich. Still I have the luxury of looking over the stats before I ever get one. And indeed if I ever get a car again I deem getting one to be a necessity. Not for talking while driving but for a much more important use. It’ll help if I ever get totally stranded.
Experimenting on the rich; this is the one thing that makes me feel not so poor.
