Triage?

If you believe - as I do - the following:

1. We live in a purposeful, designed universe
2. The purpose of the universe involves the development of increased intelligence through evolution
3. We should support this purpose

Then it raises the question - where do we apply resources so this is best accomplished?

In other words, given our limited resources, what should be support and what should we ignore?

For example, I think we should support medical research, especially the cure of aging, cancer, and other deadly diseases. This would increase the human lifespan, and more productive people would contribute more to human progress. Imagine if Aristotle, Leonardo, Mozart, Poe, Freud, Einstein, and others had lived another 100 years...how much more evolved we would be?

But what about the poor, in a world where billions have nothing?

In our objective calculations, do we simply write them off? Are they simply not part of the story of human evolution? Or worse, are they holding us back?

I honestly don't know the answer. Perhaps the dirt poor African or South American slum dweller has the genius or mutated gene the human race needs to advance dramatically. Or maybe not, and using resources to support billions of people will only detract from and slow human progress.

It is a cold calculus that lets some children die from starvation and disease; it is beyond my limited capacity.

However, my instincts tell me that the more we help the backwards improve, the faster the human race progresses. As a race. But that's just my opinion. Helping the poor, the weak, the sick, might have the opposite effect.

What do you think? Should we spend limited funds helping the poor, or focus on helping the wealthy nations lead the way?