In the past they would’ve been old and grumpy and then died before they could cause real problems. Now with old people living longer than ever they can fuck things up for the rest of us.
In the past they would’ve been old and grumpy and then died before they could cause real problems. Now with old people living longer than ever they can fuck things up for the rest of us.
Humans required tribes and close-knit communities to survive up until extremely recently in our evolutionary history. The last few hundred years massively shifted how where and how we see our identities and tribes, and what information is available. Modern social media and algorithm-based content has taken advantage of this in a huge way. People are not taught proper critical thinking and are not immunized against disinformation. Our ancient brains still think losing our tribe as being sentenced to loneliness, danger, and death. The opinions and actions of many are now more public than ever and there is more pressure there as well.
Thats great, what’s your point
That these elements are a greater cause of societal problems today than people living longer.
If anything, living longer will give people better perspective.
Source: At 30 I had a much more nuanced perspective of just about anything than I did at 20. And I bet most people would say the same. Partly just from experience, but also because I was able to read a lot more about any subject, such as things like Studs Terkel’s “Hard Times”, or understand the complexities of WWII better, and how today is very much a result of it.
And I’ve read even more since then. By now I’ve spent more time reading than I had the hours to read, let alone the background, at age 20.