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Most people are concerned about getting older. They rightfully associate old age with the betrayal of the body, which gradually fails at supporting once vigorous physical and intellectual functions. These people usually wish they could slow down this bodily decay and remain young (or at least pretend to) just a tad bit longer. Hence the market for Botox, Corvette cars, and little blue pills.
As for me, well, I’m concerned about not growing old fast enough to keep up with my times. Now, you’re thinking, here he goes again, going for shock value. But bear with me while I explain how I came to having this peculiar concern (I’ll leave my concern for pterodactyls to another time).
You, someday?
Now, we all have observed old people and their odd behaviors. We know how they kill time (waiting for the favor to be returned): bingo games, dated TV shows, meaningless conversations with their poodles, and so forth (your mileage may vary). We have all listened to their rambling about wartime stories (for the oldest), how their “free love” generation was the most awesome in history (for the older), or how Nirvana marked the end of musical history, never to be surpassed (for the just plain old).
Well, these old geezers all have one thing in common: they live in their own little closet of history. They consistently fail to grasp the meaning, trends and highlights of the next generation. As if they were unable to move on from what they had grown accustomed to, and were not only suspicious about, but also unable to adjust to changing times.
Case in point: how many of the elderly around you are computer literate? How many can listen to techno music without dismissing it as degenerate noise? How many get starry-eyed about how genetic engineering, nanotechnologies, and artificial intelligence will blow away our world in unprecedented fashion?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the elderly have been consistently outpaced by their times. And we, as elderly-in-the-making, are not likely to fare any better.
Indeed, I do believe that this fate has been ours for pretty much all of mankind’s history. Texts from ancient Greeks complain about “young ones these days”, which quite obviously displayed traits of insolence, lack of discipline and moral decadence, in an eerie resemblance to how today’s youth is routinely judged by their grandparents.
I do also believe, however, that this trend is only getting worse. Technological (and with it, cultural) change is happening at an increasingly faster pace. The XXth century has brought about more changes than the previous five hundred years (after all, it began with horse carts and ended with plastic food served on daily transcontinental flights). It is very likely that the next twenty years alone will bring more changes than the entire XXth century.
Will I be able to grow at that ever-increasing speed and not be outpaced? Will I avoid becoming a rambling old geezer unable to cope with, or even comprehend, the brave new world?
Judging by the performance of my predecessors, I can only be worried, and so should you.
