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Although we would like the title given to this narrative of the future to be as close to reality as possible, it is a hyper-positive title. The scope of this vision is infinitely far removed from the year 2036, the year in which the hypotheses set forth below are posited. Both provocative and inspiring, this title reflects an illusion that has accompanied humanity since antiquity. In ancient Babylon, Alchemy dedicated knowledge, potions, and concoctions in an attempt to achieve eternal life. An aspiration that after centuries, remains the same and we find it in statements of powerful figures such as Jeff Bezos, who expresses that „aging is a disease that can be slowed, stopped, even reversed“.
The means to achieve this aspiration have of course changed, just as our knowledge of the human body and its functions has evolved. Today we have advanced technologies that allow us, for example, to operate on diseases without the intervention of a doctor’s hand; instead, the task is delegated to a machine, to a specialized robot with capabilities that surpass those of man.
Despite these advances, our knowledge of the human body remains limited. But beyond the boundaries of our own body, there are other factors of no lesser importance that derail us from this aspiration. The influence of climate change, wars, or pandemics – elements that are so vivid in our present – are just some of the factors that affect access to and provision of health services in an equitable manner, and which on the contrary, open up gaps and exacerbate social differences in our world.
The hypotheses presented here are by no means intended to dictate the future, nor to encompass the complexity of factors that influence the future of health. They seek to answer the questions posed in the scope of our annual foresight project and are intended to broaden our corporate perspective, broaden our established ideas, and stimulate creativity in responding to the challenges of the future.