Toward Post Ageing: Technology in an Ageing Society

162 Pages·2014·3.17 MB·English

by  Katarina Friberg Felsted

Healthy Ageing and Longevity 1
Series Editor: Suresh I.S. Rattan
Katarina Friberg Felsted
Scott D. Wright
Toward
Post Ageing
Technology in an Ageing Society
Healthy Ageing and Longevity
Volume 1
Series editor
Suresh I.S. Rattan, Aarhus, Denmark
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13277
Katarina Friberg Felsted Scott D. Wright
•
Toward Post Ageing
Technology in an Ageing Society
123
Katarina FribergFelsted
Scott D.Wright
GerontologyInterdisciplinary Program
College ofNursing
Universityof Utah
Salt LakeCity, UT
USA
ISBN 978-3-319-09050-4 ISBN 978-3-319-09051-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-09051-1
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Foreword
ItispossibletomaketwopredictionsabouttheUnitedStates,indeed,alladvanced
industrialized countries, between now and, say, the year 2035. First, the pace of
technologicalchangewillcontinue,asmanifestedintelecommunications,medical
science,militarytechnique,andsoon;second,populationswillgrowolder:thatis,
median age will rise as the number of older adults increases and the number of
childrendeclines.Thefirstofthesetrendswillcomeaboutbecauseofinvestments
inresearchanddevelopmentalreadyinplace.Thesecondwillcomeaboutbecause
those over age 65 have already been born and fertility rates have been falling
worldwide.Notethatpredictionofarapidly‘‘ageingsociety’’doesnotdependon
furthergainsinlifeexpectancyormedicalmiracles.Itsimplyreflectsthegrowing
proportion of elders compared to other age groups. In sum, we can discern many
elements of ‘‘the shape of things to come’’ already: namely, an ageing society
influenced by rapid changes in technology. It is because of this forecast that
Felsted and Wright’s book has such enormous importance.
We need make no judgment about whether society will be better or worse off
because of anticipated changes in demography and technology. On the one side,
there are those who fear for the future of an older society on a global basis.
Consider the title of Ted Fishman’s book Shock of Grey: The Ageing of the
World’s Population: ‘‘How it Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent,
Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival, and Nation Against Nation.’’ On
the other side, there are voices of optimism about population ageing, though less
prominent than the pessimists. For example, Laura Carstensen, A Long Bright
Future,with itsfulltitle: ‘‘Happiness,Health andFinancialSecurity inan Ageof
Increased Longevity.’’
Similarly, we are familiar with optimistic pictures based on technology, whe-
ther in computers and telecommunications or advances in the biology of ageing.
Onthislastpoint,wemayciteAubreydeGrey,editorofthejournalRejuvenation,
who believes we could be on the threshold of dramatic changes in maximum
human lifespan. He joined Ray Kurzweil, who predicts a ‘‘singularity’’ of man-
machine interaction akin to science fiction. There are also those who look at the
same trends, but forecast a gloomy shape of things to come: for example, Bill
v
vi Foreword
Joy’s much discussed article ‘‘Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us.’’ In short, with
technology, as with demography, there have always been utopian and dystopian
visions of the shape of things to come.
In truth, we are in no position now to make specific forecasts about break-
throughsinscienceandtechnologythatcouldaltertheshapeofthehumanlifespan
itself: e.g., de Grey’s notion that humans could live to be 500 or 1,000 years old.
Thiskindof‘‘inflectionpoint’’(inthephraseusedinthisbook)isconceivable,but
we have no way of estimating its probability. Even if we avoid speculating about
de Grey’s scenario, we can conduct a thought experiment and imagine, say, the
discoveryofan‘‘Alzheimer’svaccine,’’whichwouldendthatburdeninlaterlife.
Similarly,wecouldimaginebreakthroughsinregenerativemedicinetoallowmore
people to live up to the empirical maximum lifespan (120 years). Successfully
these domains are conceivable, though I offer no predictions about probability in
either case. But we can imagine near-term scenarios that deserve consideration.
I put forward two contrasting scenarios for an ageing society in 2067 in my
articleon‘‘Reflectingonthe21stCentury.’’Ioffered twodifferentpicturesofthe
next half-century, one very optimistic, and one very pessimistic. What is needed
today is a sustained examination of the interaction between technology and
demography, not to make predictions, but to better understand what is already
happening. Let me offer a few examples. Smart phone technology, along with
email,hasalreadyalteredthedeliveryofhomehealthcare.Mostwouldregardthat
as a good thing: e.g., homebound elders on Skype with their grandchildren. But
expanded access to telecommunications could accelerate financial elder abuse as
older people with more assets become victims through computer technology.
Consider another example. Success in life-preserving medical technology could
enable more people to survive life-threatening conditions. But life-preserving
technology can also enable those with advanced dementia or other debilitating
conditions to survive beyond the time they would wish to live.
Thus, technology typically turns out to be a two-edged sword: i.e., unantici-
patedproblemsalongwithhoped-forbenefits.Therealpointoftheseexamplesof
telecommunicationsandbiomedicaltechnologyisthatwedonotneedtowaitfora
distantfuturetoseemixedresults.Wealreadyliveinaworldoframpantfinancial
elder abuse, mediated by telephones and email, and we already live in a world
where we speak about a ‘‘right to die’’ to defeat the ever-encroaching force of
medical technology in maintaining biological life. Thus, it is critical for us to
examine this intersect of technology and philosophy.
Theauthorsofthisbookurgeus,properlyIthink,toreflectonthepossibilityof
‘‘transcending ageing,’’ of living in a ‘‘post-ageing’’ world. But something of this
sort has already been happening. When we hear slogans like ‘‘Sixty is the New
Forty,’’whatweareremindedofisthattheexperienceofoldage—say,ofpeople
65yearsofageandolder—isalreadyverydifferentthanwhatitwasuntilrecently,
and so we find ourselves in an inflection point. In the first place, there are more
elders, not primarily because of advances in medical technology, but because of
public healthmeasures,falling fertilityrates, andanageingBabyBoom.Thereal
income of elders is higher than in the past, and their options and choices are
Foreword vii
different. Let me cite two modest examples from the 40 years I have been in
gerontology. Forty years ago, mandatory retirement was not illegal. Forty years
ago, there was no such thing as Elderhostel (now Road Scholar) or other oppor-
tunities for lifelong learning. Forty years ago, elders had substantial rates of
poverty,rateswhichhavenowdroppedtothepointapproximatingotheradultage
groups. ‘‘Old age’’ today looks very different than it did when I (now 69) entered
the field of ageing. We may not have entirely created a ‘‘post-ageing’’ world but
we have already begun to see elements of that world, which is precisely why the
issues discussed in this book are so important.
Thosewholookattechnologytendtoinvokeimagesofhopeorfear,andthose
wholookatageing,individualorsocietal,havetheirownhopesandfears.Thereis
a modest academic literature about the future of population ageing but serious
assessment of technology and the future of ageing remains to be done. Pessimists
have captured public attention, perhaps in part because of widespread ageism
criticized by geriatricians like Robert Butler and John Rowe. It is exactly on this
point that the study of technology and ageing can make a contribution: not by
predictingaspecificpath(e.g.,anAlzheimer’svaccine)thatmayormaynotever
happen.Instead,reflectionontechnologyandageing,asweseeinthisvolume,can
help us recover a more vigorous ‘‘sense of the possible,’’ or to use the terms of
Castoriadis, a ‘‘social imaginary’’ so critically needed to counter the pessimism
and ageism that still remain widespread. This vigorous sense of the possible does
notrequireustobecomeutopiancheerleadersfortechnologyasthesolutiontoall
problemsofageing.Nordoes itpermit ustosurrendertothe pessimismtoooften
heardfromculturalcritics.Ratheritrequiresustohaveasenseofanopenfuture,a
futurenotentirelypredictableorforeshortened.And,mostimportantly,itoffersus
the possibility of realistic hope, needed today more than ever.
Harry R. Moody
Santa Barbara
Acknowledgments
To my parents, Birgitta and Stig, beacons of older adult generativity, who never
for a moment made me think I was anything but capable. To my sister, Anna-
Karin, who is more precious than an eye.
To my interdisciplinary academic colleagues, both local and national, for their
emulable examples. To my mentors, Dr. Caserta and Dr. Wright, for their sus-
tained illumination.
Tomychildren,Logan, Christian,andBennett,who toleratedthisbookasifit
were a new sibling, and generously made consequential adjustments and allow-
ances.Andtomyhusband,Pat—forhisunfailingencouragementandfullsupport.
Katarina Friberg Felsted
After 30 years of academic service in the field of gerontology, I would like to
acknowledge the deep legacy through their publications and writings of these
scholars: Glen Elder, Bernice Neugarten, Urie Bronfenbrenner, Robert Kasten-
baum, Andrew Achenbaum, Harry R. Moody, and ThomasR. Cole—who offered
profound inspiration and motivation in my academic training to think, discover,
and most importantly to philosophically question the received view of the ageing
experienceandtoreflectontheageingexperienceincreativeways.Iwouldliketo
especiallyhighlighttheroleofThomasR.Coleandhisscholarshiponthehistory
of ageing and humanistic gerontology as transformational in my perspectives of
the ageing experience as placed in the context of time and cultural milieu.
I also would like to thank Dr. Dale Lund for his supportive mentorship and
establishinganacademicenvironmentattheUniversityofUtahforboldideasand
allowing gerontology to be truly interdisciplinary. I want to thank my colleague
Katarina Friberg Felsted for her professional focus and determination in leading
the way in the publication of this work and for being an integral part of the
scholarshipfromthebeginningwithasymposiumattheGerontologicalSocietyof
America on philosophical issues of technology and ageing.
I dedicate this book to my two sons—Logan and Ian Wright. The emergence
and impact of technology will be fully realized in their life course and ageing
experience—and for the many generations to follow.
Scott D. Wright
ix
Contents
Part I Transcending Disciplinary and Paradigmatic Tensions
in Gerontology
1 The Use of Inflection Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 The Use of Inflection Points in the Explanation
and Understanding of Scholarship
for the Ageing Experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 The Use of Inflection Points Versus Paradigms
in Gerontology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 A Long Grey Line Revisited and Revised. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 The Definition and Delineation of Each Inflection Point. . . . . . . . 21
2.1 [1.0]: Philosophy of Ageing (Ageing as a Reflection). . . . . . . 21
2.2 [2.0]: The Bio-Medical Diseases of Ageing
(Ageing as a Problem) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3 [3.0] Demographics of Ageing (Ageing as a Challenge) . . . . . 24
2.4 [4.0]: Optimal Ageing (Ageing as a Reward). . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.5 Forecasting a Significant Change in the Present Curvature . . . 28
2.6 [4.0] Reviewing the Current and Triumphal Positive
Derivative in the Field of Ageing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7 [5.0] Post Ageing, or Ageing as an Artifact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.8 Perceived Barriers to Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.9 Ending Ageing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
xi