In my mind I see this as a social health crisis. The elderly provide an unbelievable amount of wisdom to the next generation. By abandoning them, we abandon our children's future. I think of the elderly as an essential vitamin for children. They impart valuable social memes and at the same time tell the children, by there mere existence in their lives, that we value our family and when the children's time comes to age and pass away, they can expect to be valued as well.
In other words, by abandoning our elderly, we're sending a clear message to our children that human life has no inherent value if you can't produce. No wonder children in industrialized nations can't seem to feel a sense of belonging.
> The elderly provide an unbelievable amount of wisdom
Sorry, no. It's not because you grow grey hair that you get gifted wisdom or anything. There's a bunch of older people who are actually assholes, too. Getting old does not make your into a Saint.
Assholishness and wisdom seem to be orthogonal to me. Most of us could probably name a dozen famous people off the tops of our heads who were both wise and unpleasant (most famously, Isaac Newton... arguably in the running for the smartest person who ever lived, but kind of a dick in his interpersonal relationships).
Old people have survived, which represents a first cut against doing foolish things, ranging from driving too fast to smoking to getting in bar fights. Barring cognitive decline, it makes perfect sense that older people should be, on average, more wise than younger ones. Plus some people do actually manage to learn a few things over the course of their lives. :-)
There's a great short story called "The Last Answer," by Isaac Asimov.[1] In it, a scientist dies and is preserved by a "god" to think for eternity. He is quickly horrified by this and declares that he won't do it.
Murray said, “Consider, then, that my thoughts may be useless to you. If I come up with nothing useful, will it not be worth your while to – disassemble me and take no further trouble with me?”
“As a reward? You want Nirvana as the prize of failure and you intend to assure me failure? There is no bargain there. You will not fail. With all eternity before you, you cannot avoid having at least one interesting thought, however you try against it.”
You might be an asshole. You might be a fool who has wrecked his life and screwed everything up. However, you've lived for many decades. I'm sure that you have something interesting, valuable, or insightful to share. It would be extremely difficult to imagine a life where that's not the case.
Really have to qualify your comment. All horrible people will eventually become elderly. Despite the "wisdom" that such people may have, many have an incredible ability to wreak havoc in the lives of others... to the point of being a net negative on future generations.
You bring up a good point. There's no qualification test for wisdom. Is someone a bitter dogmatic psycho? Or are they warm and truly emotionally intelligent? No way to know. One problem is that there is no real regard for wisdom in modern American society. We value youth and energy over wisdom and depth. So, why even be bothered to think about such things?
Society is bizarre in innumerable ways. The number of people who I know that have contempt for children or people having children is repugnant to me. I think the disdain for the young and old is a sign of decadence.
There is nothing you can ever do to destroy the planet. Check your hubris. Most of what you like about the planet is its suitability for human life, which is to say, it isn't the planet you like, but your descendants.
If the people who care about the environment don't have children, then future generations will just be comprised more of people who don't care about the environment.
I'd ask what mental gymnastics are involved for a rich country to ignore tens of thousands of elderly to die alone and abandoned until their bank accounts drain?
My grandparents all died when I was young, mainly from alcohol and cigarettes. I never knew my father. My mom is a terrible person. Each elderly person has a story, and it would be wise to review how they got to a scenario that involves them dying alone. I am sure there are some sad tales, but there are probably some less than sad tales involving the life of an asshole.
I would agree that there should be better social safety nets in place for the elderly, not because their family members failed them, but exactly the opposite. It should be intended to free up family members from the burden of being someone's retirement plan. I have heard people say a good reason for having kids is so you have someone to take care of you when you're old. That sounds like a great way to set yourself up to die alone.
In other words, by abandoning our elderly, we're sending a clear message to our children that human life has no inherent value if you can't produce. No wonder children in industrialized nations can't seem to feel a sense of belonging.