Science, government, and industry united to form Nexes, an all-powerful body that controls every aspect of society.
In order to make up for their short life spans, and to continue to have a progressive society, people are assigned careers at a young age and put through intensive schooling specific to their assigned careers - they graduate and start work at age 14 as experts in their field, but ignorant about almost anything else.
The result is that no one has enough knowledge to see the full picture, or question the world around them, leaving those few people in charge of Nexes with absolute power.
In order to stop others from noticing, Nexes moves these people into dangerous career paths, and makes sure that they are dead before they become old enough for the disease to have affected them.
Upon his graduation at the top of his class, he is told that a genetic flaw has been discovered within him, making him unsuitable for a medical career.