Dearest readers, when it comes to our health, we live in the past. Preventative medicine and nutrition tailored more to what we can and cannot eat have not taken root here. Sure, there are exceptions like yours truly who really focus on proper nutrition and good health, but this is not being drilled into the entire population at home and in schools. We have to change this. The beginning, I think, is the realization that we won't outlive our elders, or be healthier and stronger than them in our old age, if we insist on doing things exactly as they did, eat as they did, take care of our health as they did... We need to embrace everything at our disposal to ensure we are younger and healthier in our old age than any generation before us. Imagine avoiding things like arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's and bone density loss. Also, imagine feeding your brain everything it needs and then some to stay younger and sharper. 80 would certainly become the new 65, and this wave of super seniors (haha, sweet) would be able to perform well at all sorts of jobs currently off limits to seniors today. They would also retire later and consume more. Also, they would be using savings amassed in their lifetimes to actively trade on the financial markets (stocks, options, forex, you name it), thereby pumping more money into the financial sector as well. Finally, imagine banks being willing to give a 60 year old a major loan because they know he/she is good for at least another 10-15 years. Pretty cool, right?
The part about seniors trading on the financial markets gets me to my second point- schools and families are not preparing the majority of the population for an active investing future. Robo investment companies like Wealthsimple are already moving in a direction where AI is taking over actively managing portfolios, and now they're in early access stage for a commission-free trading platform. Finance classes in schools should be teaching kids about the markets, analyzing news and charts alike, and having them open practice accounts to get some hands-on experience. Imagine seniors of the future who have been active investors since they were kids, and the wealth of experience they would have. If that's all they did with their retirement money, active trader seniors could make an enviable income just working from a home office. Compare that to the jobs and roles seniors are relegated to today, and you will quickly realize why the population needs to keep growing all the time and why aging population scares a society and its government. Seniors of today do require more and more young people to jump in and keep things going. Seniors of the future may not need that nearly as much.
Finally, let's talk about consumption. One thing that's not being taught in schools and at homes (again, for the most part) is the ratio between consuming and creating, especially when it comes to digital content. Many kids and adults today are inundated by content- YouTube, Netflix, Reddit, Facebook... you name it. Sometimes we just consume for entertainment purposes; other times, we do it to get informed and do research on different topics. The problem is that many of us get caught up in consuming so much that we fail to create anything except reactions and comments! In fact, not only do we fail to create digital content, but we also often fall short in real life. We do this, although a bit of critical thinking clearly shows us that it is the creators who get the most attention, and often money, status and influence as well. So, we help creators get all that by consuming what they make, to the point there isn't enough time for us to replicate, in our own lives, some or all of their success. It is easy to get lost in all of this, and as a society we are in trouble unless we teach ourselves to watch the ration between how much we consume and how much we create. We need to create a lot more ideas and products that we can sell and trade. Once we as a society get in the habit of doing that, less of us will certainly be able to do a lot more, so there will be less need for more of us.
Personally, I think there's a reason why our society is evolving in this direction. Look at science fiction. There were many times we imagined humans of the future or alien races that lived long, healthy and high tech lives to be smaller in number as well as supremely focused on the ultimate value and potential of every single life brought to the world. It stops being a numbers game as we know it, and becomes something bigger and better. Where it stops, no one knows. I just hope it doesn't stop any time soon; the only good way is forward and up. :)