Within that passionate quest for understanding, we will surely also seek to nourish the quiet, serene arts of living well, and if death is, after all, finally unavoidable, however long postponed, of dying well. If its sharp blade falls, we are as dead and gone as any peasant or priest or king in the long, suffering history and prehistory of the world. Plainly, the only prudent move is to do everything possible to forestall accidental or infective death during the next decade or three, and to adopt as many healthy practices as we can manage without altogether giving up on the vivid texture of life. That much is under the individual's control. Social and political factors play a larger role.
Mortality rates vary shockingly between nations and even States.
Sufficient for the rest of the community as well. Clean water and air. Decent medical and dental care. Everywhere in the world. The most frightening apartheid one could imagine is a future world in which extended life is allowed only to a few, the very wealthy say, the political elite and their chosen followers, Mafia, military, scientists, sports heroes, movie stars.