Question: In order to ask the questio0n, I need to explain the context:

**Background:**

I was in discussion with a friend(Annie), talking about one of our friends, James.

He was filming a video documentary for his PhD thesis about Chinese music. Unfortunately, we lost him about 3 years ago due to stroke. 

During the discussion, I mentioned a concept in Chinese:时代相关性, which means the documentary has its relevance to today's world. In another words, the documentary makes perfect sense in the current world, but may not be relevant after 2 decades or whatever the time could be.

I searched online and found 2 words:

**Relevance** and **Correlation**

So here is my question:

**In this context, which one fits the best and why?**

Answer: 
"to alleviate the many ills to which the flesh is heir" = "to alleviate all the bad things that humans suffer.

The expression *to which the flesh is heir* is taken from Shakespeare's play Hamlet (Act 3 Scene 1).

> 
> To die, to sleep—
> 
> 
> No more—and by a sleep to say we end
> 
> 
> The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
> 
> 
> **That flesh is heir to**—’tis a consummation
> 
> 
> Devoutly to be wished!
> 
> 
> 

*To which flesh is heir* or *That flesh is heir to* is a poetic way of saying "that afflict us" (literally "that our bodies inherit")

**Flesh** means "mortal body", and is as opposed to the spirit or soul.
"Flesh" is the muscle, fat and sinew of the human body, what we might call "meat" in a non-human animal. By synecdoche (using a part to refer to the whole), it means "body" or "physical form". 

"To be heir to something" (in this case, "which", referring to "the many ills") means "to inherit something" or "to get something by means of a will". Metaphorically, the "will" (as in "last will and testament") is dropped and "inherit" instead implies a certain inevitability to the "getting". If you really wanted to push it, I'm sure you could come up with something about God's will.

In short, "the many ills to which the flesh is heir" refers to the many diseases, injuries, and other problems the body gets *because* it's a body with a physical presence in the physical world. This isn't just age or fatigue and their effects, by the way. It also includes actual diseases and injuries, as opposed to more spiritual or emotional ills, such as greed or heartbreak.

"To alleviate", meanwhile, means "to soothe" or "to lighten" (as a load).

So, to paraphrase, 

> 
> "to alleviate the many ills to which the flesh is heir"
> 
> 
> 

becomes

> 
> "to soothe the many problems the body gets because it is physical"
> 
> 
>