Your 101 year old father was out shooting on an Ursa 12K? What a guy.
I think we’re going to see a “silver tsunami” of robust elderly persons as millennials and Gen Xers age simply because healthy lifestyle activities that had been a part of their lives.
I.e. don’t buy into Acorn Stairlift and Lifealert futures.
You're probably leaving out the issues around teflon, microplastics and antibiotics poisoning all food, air and water, general increased stress and anxiety about the wars, economy, job market, environment, debt and unaffordable rent/housing, the loneliness epidemic plaguing the west, which have already tanked their/our sperm count so we can't be too sure they'll/we'll see much healthier retirements if these keep piling up.
Those with solid careers in tech in developed countries yeah sure, they'll be fine and happy, most likely retired early, house and debt paid off and focused on enjoying their hobbies instead of working the 9-5 grind. The rest, not so much.
The old people working in the streets till they drop in China and Korea do it because they have no wealth to rest on, not because they enjoy doing that kind of work so much.
It's doable to be young and poor, but being old and poor sucks.
On the healthcare front there was the proliferation of lead (in paint, toys, fuel, everything), smog from cars and coal burning, toxic fertilizers, the rise and fall of smoking, the discovery of HIV, Polio outbreaks, things like the Cuyahoga river fire (where rivers were so polluted they literally caught fire every couple decades). The mining town my family lived in would just throw the arsenic and mine tailings into the lakes because they figured it couldn't hurt them there, and that was a common thing to do at that time.
Gen X and Millennials are not the only generations who have faced adversity. It's a rough moment now for sure, but it's not unique. We shouldn't fall into baseless optimism but also don't shouldn't neglect human strength and creativity. We have new problems, and we have new tools.
Sure, not stealing his thunder, but that's how selection bias works. Not everyone got to live to 101 despite maybe even living healthier lives. I know people in their 40's who already died of cancer. Life can always throw you a curb ball.
>Gen X and Millennials are not the only generations who have faced adversity.
Fair point.
My point really was that second one.
As I said, it's a rough time right now, we're going through a lot. But we passed environmental reforms before, we removed lead from gas, we invented vaccines, we set standards for chemicals, we've cured a few people of HIV, there is good to find out there.
Thank you for this comment, it helps to contextualize two moods that I have, as one who has struggled with depression (not currently, but off and on):
When I’m in a low mood it’s easy to see and dwell on the new problems and discount the efficacy of the new tools.
When I’m in good spirits it’s easy to see the new tools and (temporarily) forget about the new problems.
> I.e. don’t buy into Acorn Stairlift and Lifealert futures.
Trends in obesity–which is a huge driver of poor health in America–don't seem to support this hypothesis. I think the great majority of health and wellness activity in recent years has been concentrated among people at the upper end of the socioeconomic scale, which also drives perception since companies will spend a lot on advertising to attract people with money. Things in this country look very different depending on how far you are from the nearest Whole Foods/Equinox/Soulcycle/Sweetgreen.
It's not a silver bullet anyway, but "become generic" is doing some extremely heavy lifting.