轉貼:Old Age is a Waste, Q and A |
送交者: 求真知 2020年01月02日20:03:55 於 [天下論壇] 發送悄悄話 |
Old Age is a WasteOld Age is a Waste by Stephen S. Hall, MIT Tech Review, Sep/Oct 2019
A. Not really! [laughing]
A. First of all, it's not an extreme position. I'm not going to die at 75. I'm not committing suicide. I'm not asking for euthanasia. I'm going to stop taking meds with the sole justification that the medication or intervention is to prolong my life. A. As you probably know better than everyone else, it's editors that choose titles & not authors. I often get, from the people who want to dismiss me, "You know, my Aunt Nellie, she was clear as a bell at 94, & blah-blah-blah..." But as I said in the article, there are outliers. There are not that many people who continue to be active & engaged & actually creative past 75. It's a very small number. A. Lots of presidents & lots of politicians say, "Children are our most valuable resource." But we as a country don't behave like that. We don't invest in children the way we invest in adults, especially older adults. One of the stats I like to point out is if you look at the federal budget, $7 goes to people over 65 for every dollar for people under 18.
A. If you ask anyone, "All right, design out the life you want," I think people initially say, "Oh, I want to keep going as fast as I can, & than just fall off a cliff." And then they reconsider: "Well, maybe I don't want to die of a heart attack or a stroke in the middle of the night. I want to say goodbye to my family. So I want some gentle decline, but a very short amount of time. You know, months, not years. It makes perfect sense. I'm no different. I'd like to maintain my vigor, my intellectual capacity, my productivity, all the way thru to the end. But I think we also need to be realistic-- that's not the way most of us are going to live. A. In the early 1980s, we had a theory that as we live longer, we're going to stay in better health. You know, at 70, we're going to be like our parents were when thay were 50. Well, if you look at the data, maybe not. We're having more disabilities. We have people with more problems. And even more important, for most people, is the biological decline in cognitive function. If you look at really smart people, there aren't that many writing brand-new books after 75, & really developing new areas where they are leading thinkers. They tend to be re-tilling familiar areas that they've worked on for a long time. A. These people who live a vigorous life to 70, 80, 90 years of age-- when I look at what those people "do," almost all of it is what I classify as play. It's not meaningful work. They're riding motor- cycles; they're hiking. Which can all have value--don't get me wrong. But if it's the main thing in your life? Ummm, that's not probably a meaningful life. A. Certainly. You listen to these people & their lingo is not "We're just trying to get rid of problems." Right? It's "We want to live longer." I notice that almost all of these things--not all of them, but many of them--are based out in California, because God forbid the world should continue to exist & I'm not part of it! The world will exist fine if you happen to die. Great people, maybe even people greater than you, like Newton & Shakespeare & Euler--they died. And guess what? The world's still here. A. No, no -- they're fascinated by *their* life extension! This idea that they're fascinated with life extension [in general]? Naw, they're fascinated by their life extension. They find it hard to even contemplate the idea that they are going to die & the world is going to be fine without them. A. There is this view that longevity, living forever--& if not forever, 250 or 1000 years--is really what we ought to be aiming at. And once you've got cultural leaders, or opinion leaders, saying this, people glom onto it. And it feeds into a whole situation of "Yes, dying is a bad thing." I do fear death. But I think I fear being sort of decrepit & falling apart more. A. I think it would be, especially if what ends up happening is it adds a few years of life. Then the question is: What are the downsides of that? There may be a cognitive downside, maybe a little more mental confusion. It's very funny--every time I talk to people, it's like, "Oh, yeah, definitely quality of life over quantity of life." But when push comes to shove, it's really quantity of life. "I might be a little confused, but I'll take that extra year!" |
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