{"id":1403,"date":"2016-07-21T15:42:03","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T15:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/families\/?p=588"},"modified":"2016-07-21T15:42:03","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T15:42:03","slug":"droneliness-and-technomyths-olders-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/2016\/07\/21\/droneliness-and-technomyths-olders-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Droneliness and Technomyths: Olders Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Ashton's<\/a>
Ashton’s 2016 book.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Concerned about an onslaught of enfeebled old people? Don\u2019t worry, robots will take care of them! American techno-optimism knows no bounds, and so-called \u201cage-independence\u201d technologies are proliferating like crazy. But in a profoundly ageist culture, the implications can be disturbing. Here\u2019s a critique of the latest article to catch my eye, \u201cAs Aging Population Grows, So Do Robotic Health Aides<\/a>,\u201d which appeared in the New York Times<\/em> on December 4, 2015.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the hand-wringing opener [emphasis mine]: \u201cThe ranks of older and frail<\/strong> adults are growing rapidly <\/strong>in the developed world, raising alarms<\/strong> about how society is going to help them take care of themselves.\u201d Frailty is indeed the biggest threat to an active old age, although only a subset of olders are at risk. It\u2019s also easily detectable and the most remediable. Even very old people who are already frail see huge gains from modest interventions, like walking more or doing simple weight training exercises.<\/p>\n

Next up, the inevitable alarm about global wrinkling: \u201cAn aging population will place enormous burdens on the world\u2019s health care system by 2050.\u201d<\/strong> In fact, older people are not<\/em> inevitable money pits for health dollars. People aren\u2019t just living longer; they\u2019re healthier and are disabled for fewer years of their lives than older people of decades ago. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the share of US health care spending going toward nursing and retirement homes has declined since 2000 and been flat since 2006. The ten-year MacArthur Foundation Study of Aging in America concluded that once people reach sixty-five, their added years don\u2019t have a major impact on Medicare costs. People over eighty actually cost less to care for at the end of life than people in their sixties and seventies. It\u2019s high-tech interventions, not older patients, that make modern medicine so expensive.<\/p>\n

On to another bit of problematic language: \u201cDespite a patchwork of research and some commercial products, the United States appears to be lagging Japan and Europe in developing solutions<\/strong>.\u201d Solutions to what? Aging is a natural, lifelong process, not a problem to be solved. Longevity is a fundamental hallmark of human progress.<\/p>\n

Population aging\u2014the prospect of many more of us living into our 80s and 90s\u2014 does mean that people will require more assistance of various kinds. Technology can indeed help us address some of these legitimate challenges.<\/p>\n