Have you noticed your familiar neighborhood becoming more familiar? There’s a reason. Seems that the latest census of ages tells us that as a planet we’re populated with increasing numbers of old people—well, older people, that is. As we run toward greater affluence and service by robots, will we become one of those communities we see in science fiction, a group bereft of the young?
According to a report in MedPage Today by Todd Neale (July, 2009), in 2008 there were 506 million seniors worldwide. That number is expected to increase to 1.3 billion in 2040 say Kevin Kinsella and Wan He of the Census Bureau’s International Programs Center. By 2030, one fifth of U.S. citizens will be senior citizens, and ten years later, the projected worldwide population of older people will comprise 76% of the populations in developing nations.*
I’m sorry to be the one to break this news, but truth is that you’re getting older. That, of course, is good news for you, and one day you might be the oldest person on the planet—a dubious status, since no one holds that position for long.** So, you’re part of the aging population problem. What are you going to do about it?
The planet’s life-forms have often undergone demographic changes, but no life-form has been more in control of those changes than humans. We war; we die young. The old survive. We become affluent; we abstain from the economic strain of children. The old survive. We contrive medical fixes to centuries-old maladies; we live longer. The widespread use of clean drinking water alone has probably contributed more to prolonged life than any other cause.
So, yes, your neighborhood is changing. The world neighborhood is changing. Barring another world war, the absolute numbers of the young will increase, but the percentage of the old will also increase with or without that war.
That should bring us to consider the filters of life. Filters? Yes, think of those five mass extinctions through which only certain organisms lived to pass on their genes. Had the mammals not survived as the dinosaurs didn’t survive the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, we wouldn’t be here. Life proceeds through filters with meshes both large and small. You’ve been through a number of them. That you can note the loss of members of your family, friends, acquaintances, and contemporaries is evidence of your having made it through filters.
Yes, there’s a mesh somewhere and sometime in your personal future that is a sieve too fine for passage, a solid wall just like the one the dinosaurs and unknown numbers of other organisms have encountered. So, I’ll reiterate: This is NOT your practice life. And because you’re older—and wiser—I guess I don’t have to elaborate on the thought.
*Neale, Todd, “World’s Population Grows Increasingly Long in the Tooth,” MedPage Today, July 20, 2009 at https://www.medpagetoday.com/geriatrics/generalgeriatrics/15147and Kinsella, Kevin and Wan He, “An Aging World, International Population Reports,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Commerce, online at https://www.medpagetoday.com/upload/2009/7/20/aging.pdf
**Unfortunately, there’s no way to stay the “second oldest.” Both youth and old age are fleeting states of existence.
According to a report in MedPage Today by Todd Neale (July, 2009), in 2008 there were 506 million seniors worldwide. That number is expected to increase to 1.3 billion in 2040 say Kevin Kinsella and Wan He of the Census Bureau’s International Programs Center. By 2030, one fifth of U.S. citizens will be senior citizens, and ten years later, the projected worldwide population of older people will comprise 76% of the populations in developing nations.*
I’m sorry to be the one to break this news, but truth is that you’re getting older. That, of course, is good news for you, and one day you might be the oldest person on the planet—a dubious status, since no one holds that position for long.** So, you’re part of the aging population problem. What are you going to do about it?
The planet’s life-forms have often undergone demographic changes, but no life-form has been more in control of those changes than humans. We war; we die young. The old survive. We become affluent; we abstain from the economic strain of children. The old survive. We contrive medical fixes to centuries-old maladies; we live longer. The widespread use of clean drinking water alone has probably contributed more to prolonged life than any other cause.
So, yes, your neighborhood is changing. The world neighborhood is changing. Barring another world war, the absolute numbers of the young will increase, but the percentage of the old will also increase with or without that war.
That should bring us to consider the filters of life. Filters? Yes, think of those five mass extinctions through which only certain organisms lived to pass on their genes. Had the mammals not survived as the dinosaurs didn’t survive the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, we wouldn’t be here. Life proceeds through filters with meshes both large and small. You’ve been through a number of them. That you can note the loss of members of your family, friends, acquaintances, and contemporaries is evidence of your having made it through filters.
Yes, there’s a mesh somewhere and sometime in your personal future that is a sieve too fine for passage, a solid wall just like the one the dinosaurs and unknown numbers of other organisms have encountered. So, I’ll reiterate: This is NOT your practice life. And because you’re older—and wiser—I guess I don’t have to elaborate on the thought.
*Neale, Todd, “World’s Population Grows Increasingly Long in the Tooth,” MedPage Today, July 20, 2009 at https://www.medpagetoday.com/geriatrics/generalgeriatrics/15147and Kinsella, Kevin and Wan He, “An Aging World, International Population Reports,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Commerce, online at https://www.medpagetoday.com/upload/2009/7/20/aging.pdf
**Unfortunately, there’s no way to stay the “second oldest.” Both youth and old age are fleeting states of existence.
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