While studying the menu at an elegant restaurant in Mexico City, I overheard women at a table next to ours in their early 30s chatting about work deadlines and dating apps until one said matter-of-factly, “I’m thinking about freezing my eggs this year. The clinic has this screening package; you can basically pick for lower disease risk or even height.” The others nodded, one adding, “Yeah, I did the genetic panel last month. It’s worth it for peace of mind.” They continued casually comparing logistics, like booking a Pilates class or comparing vacation rentals.
They’re not outliers. As comfortable as we’ve become with such technological advances, we perhaps don’t give equal attention to the hidden and human costs. The more we try to engineer our way to certain goods, the more they tend to elude us. We built platforms for instant global connection and ended up lonelier than ever. We optimized workflows for peak productivity and felt more frantic and overwhelmed. We industrialized food production to banish hunger, only to face epidemics of metabolic disease.
