What the Future: Aging

 

More and more of our current population are elders. In the future, that could become even more pronounced as scientific and technological advances might allow us to live better for longer. But tensions underlie that. Can we remain independent and in our own homes? How do we afford our care? Will that care come from humans, or technology or both? And how do we manage our appearance as we age?

Listen in as What the Future editor Matt Carmichael talks through the topic in this thought-provoking “podinar”. He draws on exclusive new data and foresight work, and you’ll hear in their own voices expert interviews with Coty, AARP, the National Council on Aging and Intuition Robotics, a company leading the way in AI and robotic in-home care and companionship. We talk about technology, user experience, caregiving, public policy, workplace issues, population myths, financial planning, and spin some potential views of what the future of aging might look like and where your company and brand will fit in.

Don't forget to also sign-up to receive our What the Future newsletter - a monthly dispatch from the future with exclusive data, and expert insights from Ipsos and other leading-edge companies, digging into the trends that will shape the world in the months, years and decades to come. 

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AI-generated audio transcript is offered below. Apologies in advance for inconsistencies that have been included. 

Now, without further ado. It is my pleasure to introduce today's speaker, Matt Carmichael, Vice and Editor of Future. Matt, you have The Floor.

0:53

So welcome to The Future of Aging. When I think about the future...

0:58

I often decide where the soundtrack that's soundtrack often has a lot of David Bowie, in this case it had David Bowie andQueen.

1:07

And David Bowie had a, you know, 2003 song, Never never gonna get old.

1:12

And I also was really thinking about how Bowie and Queen both released albums shortly before they died and knowing that they were dying, but the rest of the world didn't know that yet.

1:26

For Bowie it was his black star record, which came out literally days before he died.

1:31

And for Queen.

1:33

the last song on their final studio album, was called, The Show Must Go On.

1:38

With hindsight it's easy to see the foreshadowing in those lyrics.

1:43

Now Freddie left us way too young by any definition But Bowie at 69 was reaching an age where people were start would start consider old but will Dine at 69 seem especially young in the future.

1:58

Today Americans PAG old age is starting at 67 according to Ipsos data.

2:04

But if it's more and more possible for us to live healthier, longer and independently, will we choose that?

2:12

Will we choose to age gracefully?

2:15

What does that even mean?

2:18

Possibly, will be able to manage more of the way we age with synthetic biology, AI, and assisted companion devices, and apps, and customize fitness and nutrition plans based on our own metabolism and vitals that we'll be able to measure in real-time.

2:34

Our understanding of the mechanics of aging down at the cellular level will increase will multi-generational housing become the norm?

2:43

Well, cosmetics help us look as young as we feel.

2:47

How will we or will we be able to afford to keep living?

2:55

These are some of the questions we're going to talk through today as we talk through the future of aging.

3:04

I'm your host, Matt Carmichael, The Head of the Ipsos Trend and Foresight Lab, and editor of What the Future. Our monthly foresight magazine.

3:14

Each month, we tackle the different topics, such as wellness, eating, food, and we dive into it with all of the experts and all the data.

3:24

So today, we're going to talk about future KG, coming to you live.

3:31

I'm like coven Bunker.

3:33

This is, what the future I'm going to go off screen for a little bit, but I'll be back.

3:47

Here's our agenda for today which will walk you through, not only our insights and data about the future of aging, but our process of how we arrive there.

3:57

When we plan an issue of what the future, our Deputy Editor, Kate MacArthur and I in collaborations with a broad group within Ipsos start by considering our Territory.

4:08

The future of Aging will be driven by forces coming from six Directions.

4:12

We'll map those out.

4:15

Why don't we talk with experts from AARP, The National Council on Aging, Kodi, intuition, Robotics, and more.

4:23

all of whom you'll hear from as we go through this podcast.

4:27

And we collect exclusive data to show where we are today and where we're headed tomorrow.

4:32

Independence versus Isolation.

4:35

Pro age versus anti age.

4:37

Opinions about these tensions won't be the only thing that impact the future, but they'll shape how we respond.

4:43

What happens if they shift based on our data and our interview with experts?

4:49

We plot out some potential futures, thinking, again, about our tensions.

4:54

How far did they have to shift before we know which plausible port we're approaching?

4:59

And finally, we'll take a look at an item from tomorrow that will eventually seem commonplace.

5:05

But day seems as if it's on the edge of plausibility.

5:09

We call that our artifact from the future.

5:14

Before we start, let's get one thing straight, getting old is not the worst thing.

5:19

There are a lot of positive connotations for our elder population.

5:23

Most think they are wise, number, which is actually up quite a bit, since we asked this, in the before, Times, of 2018.

5:30

Many also find elders, ethical, hard-working and respectful.

5:35

We asked in another survey how Boomers and Millennials view each other.

5:39

And they tended to use many of the same words.

5:42

Millennials were described by Boomer's, as Tech Savvy materialistic, selfish, and lazy.

5:48

Granted, that's largely how Millennials describe themselves too.

5:52

Bloomers, on the other hand, were viewed by both generations as respectful, work centric, and community oriented.

5:59

And while it's interesting to note this, I really only bring it up.

6:03

Because they didn't even ask what people think of my generation.

6:07

The Gen x-ers, which is obviously really the most genex thing ever.

6:13

But one thing is certain for the future of aging, we will all do it one way or another.

6:19

The real question is, how will the world change around us to enable those longer lives.

6:26

So we think about territory around the future of aging.

6:31

We think about the health care industry itself, we think about caregivers, both professional and family caregivers, which we'll talk a lot about today.

6:41

We think about virtual care versus carryin at home and we think about synthetic biology and all of the advances there that will enable us to live longer and healthier lives.

6:53

In terms of technology, we think about wearables and monitoring. We think about care robots, which we'll talk more about.

7:00

Well, think about the UX and UI divides and the different ways that we need to design things for the future for an aging population.

7:10

And speaking to that population, we think about the demographics themselves, how health influences in power structures will change around those populations and pitchy changed by those populations.

7:23

We think about housing, our physical space, zoning, aging in place, how the places we live will enable us, or not, to live better, longer.

7:37

We think about consumer goods, the beauty and the aging products. We think about food. We think about synthetic production of these things.

7:45

And we think about the financial world, How changes to retirement age we think about generational wealth transfer. And we think about how we're going to fund these longer lives.

7:58

The real question is, how will the world change around us to enable those longer lives?

8:02

It will take changes to everything from personal finance, to housing, to zoning policy, as well as in these sectors more related, and picking up where we left off in last month's, what the future wellness.

8:14

We'll talk through the implications about how LivingWell can lead to living longer.

8:21

You might have heard, even before the pandemic that we had a looming caregiver crisis that's only gotten worse as our society becomes more and more aged.

8:31

Our elders are going to require more and more care.

8:34

That's in facilities, but it's also in our homes.

8:38

89% of Americans expect to be a caregiver for an elder family member in the future, including 43% who expect to be the primary caregiver.

8:49

Technology may help alleviate some of those coming stress, as we'll talk about in a minute.

8:54

But, regardless, we need humans, too.

8:56

Kate interviewed Ramsey Alwyn, president and CEO, with the National Council on Aging.

9:02

She talked about the need to be building the workforce of today, to meet the demand of tomorrow.

9:09

While families have often been their own caregivers, that burden isn't born evenly across genders or cultures.

9:16

And it's not necessarily sustainable, at least not without some systemic changes.

9:22

Owen says, the looming caregiver challenge isn't something that can be managed just by family.

9:27

Carrying often takes specialized skills, it can be a big lift in terms of time and money, and often literally, physically, as well, when assisting people with movement.

9:39

For many, we're taking care of elders and our own kids, and managing our homes and careers all at the same time, so, no, we can't always do it on our own.

9:48

It's going to take professionals too.

9:51

Here's what she had to say.

9:54

There's absolutely a crisis. Everyone increasingly so in light of the pandemic wants to age at home in the comfort of all that they have. Enjoys their entire life and in their community and with their loved ones. The fact of the matter is, though, there is not enough labor force in order to support it. Not enough public policy in place to truly support it at the rates in which older adults, today and older adults into the future will desire and demands ultimately.

10:26

But how we provide that care requires tradeoffs in order to support this. That's something's gotta give in the system overall.

10:34

I think the pandemic in particular, has demonstrated without care work. There is no work because our loved ones, whether they be young children or older frail or family, and friends, need care in order to be able to have the dignity of living an aging. And, for us, as workers, if we don't have that care, if we don't have that additional help, but we don't have the bandwidth to provide them the assistance, they need to age well, then it has an impact on us.

11:06

As of today, not everyone has had to deal with these issues personally.

11:10

Well, many aren't, or haven't yet been elder caregivers. Again, 89% of Americans expect to be.

11:17

The question then, will be, How will the Gen x-ers and Millennials manage their lives while caring for elders and often, their own kids, too.

11:25

How will they afford that?

11:26

How will their employers support that?

11:29

The caregiver crisis isn't just about fewer professional caregivers, says, SoFi Washington consultant and ... Strategy three consultancy.

11:38

It's an issue for the entire workforce.

11:40

She says: As our co-workers need the flexibility and financial stability to balance competing demands on their times and finances, she continues.

11:50

We also have to consider future aging populations needs in relation to planetary health, such as a changing climate adaptability, ultimately that will impact a recurrent, what the future theme, equity.

12:05

Even with caregivers, many elders wind up alone, much of their days.

12:09

It's easy to forget that aspect of carrion, just addressing the simple need for human contact.

12:16

But what if that contact didn't always have to be Heumann?

12:21

The leaky robot and others, like Amazon's astro, provide monitoring and can help remote family, caregivers, and doctors stay connected.

12:31

But it also aims to answer some of those social questions using artificial intelligence.

12:36

It can check in and prompt Elders' throughout the day.

12:40

I spoke with Doris schooler, who was CEO, co-founder of Intuition Robotics, an Israeli startup that makes ....

12:48

He said you're gonna see a lot of people relying on their AI to help them in day-to-day tasks, but also for their social needs.

12:56

Hopefully that will allow them more human interaction, and for the caregivers, you won't have to waste your 15 minute phone call with Mom asking basic questions like: Did you get your groceries?

13:12

These products are just coming on the market, So awareness is low, but just as voice assistance became prevalent quickly, it's fair to expect, interactive robots and devices like this will also catch on.

13:24

For one thing, as American age and human caregivers get more expensive in demand and in short supply, this technology is addressing a pressing need.

13:34

Beyond that, as schooler says, these products and services are being designed for this audience from the user experience up.

13:41

Even less digitally inclined elders can set them up on their own, he says, and their testing has found high sustained engagement.

13:50

He says, doing that through building a relationship through projecting empathy, and through keeping context of previous discussions and personalization experiences.

14:03

Here's what he had to say.

14:05

Need this combination of character based AIs that are proactive that aren't cognitive, that are built to project empathy and to deepen our relationship over time is new to the world. And the first place we're actually going to see it deployed is in the aging population.

14:24

Why?

14:26

Because older adults have unique needs. First of all, most of the technology surrounding us, not all the technology surrounding us, is not built for this demographic. It's built for people in their thirties, and all the rest of us are playing catch up irrelevant.

14:42

But also, when you're older and you're living alone, um, about 50% of our elders are really alone, the self professed to be lonely and isolated. They spend the vast majority of their day item sells.

14:58

Loneliness is an unfortunate side effect of demographics and also public policy.

15:04

The geography of Aging is such that many of our elders are living in sprawling suburbs and exurbs with less exit, sorry, less access to our neighbors.

15:14

That's an example of yesterday's policies impacting today.

15:18

Another recurring theme of WTF is that today's policies will impact tomorrow.

15:23

And part of crafting good policy is understanding the facts of the present, and how those will shift tomorrow.

15:29

The fact is, we have an aging population as the boomers get on and age, And we have a smaller and smaller share of the population that has kids, children, as people have fewer kids, and have them later in life.

15:42

This has been shifting for decades now.

15:45

It means that we're actually likely, in many parts of the world to have a decrease in population.

15:50

And that runs contrary to a longstanding idea that the Earth's population is booming.

15:55

Daryl Bricker, the global CEO of ... Public Affairs, and co-author of the book Empty Planet.

16:01

Where is that not enough policymakers understand that, and are taking steps to address it?

16:06

one clear sign he says, is the political and ad campaigns aren't embracing this demographic as a voting block.

16:13

He says, elder women will have resources to have a significant impact on the commercial and political landscape, but they're invisible in most ad campaigns.

16:23

When was the last time, you saw a political campaign focused strategy, on what women want?

16:32

Humans or robots, as caregivers, are only part of the challenge of helping our population age.

16:38

The house they functioning must support aging, as well.

16:42

Enter an unexpected and franking, frankly, seemingly uninterested.

16:47

Try that again. Enter an unexpected. And frankly, it's seemingly uninteresting player in the future of aging.

16:54

Your local zoning board, zoning, and related building codes have a big say on whether Americans can age in their own homes.

17:03

New construction is part of it.

17:05

But even more important is retrofitting 100 million existing homes to allow for change like wider doorways and hallways to accommodate mobility devices.

17:15

It's also about allowing something called accessory dwelling units or a.d.u.s.

17:20

Like coach houses are tiny homes, which have all sorts of benefits.

17:24

Rodney Harrell lobbies for these changes and more as part of his role as AARP's housing lead and vice president of the AARP Public Policy Institute.

17:37

A.d.u.s achieve several goals, they can allow aging elders to be closer to their family without being too close.

17:46

They enable elders to stay independent in their communities and that can allow for added density in existing communities.

17:53

As more people find themselves providing care or being cared for, these are all boon's.

17:59

In recent years, more states have allowed these homes to be built, which URL sees as a positive.

18:05

The other challenge is retrofitting our existing spaces.

18:09

AARP is working with the retailer, Loews to educate homeowners about what to consider changing to enable them to live comfortably and independently longer, which many will find easier than relocating altogether.

18:24

The U S is unique in that single family homes dominate the landscape while multi-generational housing is much more common and done differently in other countries.

18:33

As Laurel says, We need to figure out how to translate this idea for the American context.

18:38

Translating is a key theme here.

18:40

Because as much as we focus our attention, especially in zoning and policy on a.d.u.s in new construction, we also need to think about everything that's already there.

18:50

Here's doctor Herat.

18:57

I'm excited by things like the interest in accessory dwelling units, and gaining zoning in existing communities, because it's starting to crack that nut.

19:07

How we make change in the community bandwidth, The existing 100 plus million Home theater in the country, because that's the way to make it real dense.

19:19

We can talk about legislation for new homes that we're building or new communities that we're creating in that great, and they should be designed in ways that take into account the wide range of needs we've been talking about.

19:30

We also have to roll up our sleeves and think creatively about the ways that we can also make changes to an existing existing community and low hanging fruit out there.

19:41

But I think we also need to take on that higher gas.

19:48

So, we've talked about our aging population and the challenges that presents in terms of caregiving, whether human or robotic or both, and in terms of the housing where we live.

19:59

Last month's wellness issue: We covered many related topics about staying healthy, as you age, But, what about how we reflect our age and our visage.

20:09

For centuries, beauty was filled as something you lost with age.

20:13

That's begun to change in recent years, As new technologies have shifted the focus from masking the exterior.

20:19

More holistic and technical, skincare and self care.

20:23

Kate talked to Kevin Shapiro, Senior Vice President of US. Marketing for Consumer Beauty, kodi.

20:30

Manages a large stable of consumer brands, including Cover Girl, which we've suddenly repositioned, it's simply a ... line.

20:38

He explains how the notion of aging gracefully has taken on a whole new meaning.

20:43

Shapira says that in the past, there was a private or a passive nature to the concept of aging gracefully, which suggested it was merely a mindset.

20:52

Today, he sees that positive connotation, being replaced by physical and mental well-being, which reflects making active and conscious choices, that applies to all genders.

21:02

He says, the language and values around beauty are shifting into recognize.

21:06

The beauty isn't only the young, but is, in fact, ageless.

21:12

Here's what he added to us.

21:15

I think aging gracefully means bringing just an increased level of understanding of what are those biological changes going on in our body, being at peace with them, but also adapting our products and routines that we use as consumers to better meet the needs as our skin and hair are changing. And I think we'll see less terminology around anti aging products in general, and more shifts towards not even nomenclature like age lists. Or, for example, Better Not Younger, which is a Haircare line, launched a few years ago, that uniquely meets the needs of women who are 50 plus.

22:00

Shapira sees the notion of embracing aging in the future, being about a better understanding of aging, which will lead to better self acceptance, which will lead to more of a celebration of longevity, he says, If you read the full Q&A and the issue.

22:14

You'll see some discussion also of how we represent our age virtually and avatars, which we'll dive into a lot more in next month's what the future, about identity.

22:25

As we age, our abilities change and as brand marketers design interfaces for their products, they need to take this into account.

22:34

It's not that elders are necessarily less savvy.

22:37

Users will have arthritic hands or diminishing eyesight.

22:40

Or they won't hear the voice assistance, as well as they used to.

22:45

Creating interfaces for an aging audience, either through a keyboard, or a touchscreen, or a voice AI, requires specialized testing.

22:53

Yana Beranek, a senior vice President, ...

22:56

user experience practice, says, in the future, we can see interfaces seamlessly tailored to your age and ability just as we see them adjust today, depending on what kind of device you're using, she says, The testing can include devices for testers that simulate aging motor skills or vision problems.

23:13

And it's easy to imagine more people getting to experience what it's like to age. As VR and especially as haptic suits, that let you touch and feel will become more common.

23:26

The final piece of the puzzle is kind of a depressing one.

23:29

As we live longer, how will we afford to do so?

23:32

And to keep up our lifestyles as we take our better care of ourselves physically and invest in ourselves physically, will we have capital to pay for that investment?

23:44

2016 report from the U S Government Accountability Office found that nearly half of households headed by older Americans had no retirement savings at all.

23:52

This isn't a great starting point.

23:55

As care expenses build in, the government remains divided on how or if to fund social security, Medicare, state, and local governments real under the weight of underfunded pension liabilities, somewhere. Something that's going to have to give.

24:10

Say elders want to make changes to their homes or add a.d.u.s that we talked about earlier?

24:15

Well, they have to drain equity from their current homes to finance that.

24:20

What did we have to do, too?

24:22

What does that do to generational wealth transfer?

24:26

Say more elders are living longer, healthier lives, and staying in the workforce longer.

24:31

What does that look like For younger workers might not have the room to advance their careers and their salaries, How to financial services institutions need to structure loans, mortgages, and insurance to account for these demographic shifts.

24:45

Kevin hung and it says, client partner, suggest that banks and regulators will need flexibility built into some of the standard offerings and products.

24:59

This leads us right into our discussion of the tensions that are underlying the future of aging.

25:05

When it says things about the future, we think about the signals, the little changes you see on the edges that might portend a bigger change.

25:13

On the other side, we think about the huge global macro forces, the tectonic plates that really drive and shape the future, things that take decades and generations to unfold.

25:26

And in the middle, we always want to think about the human, how people, how markets, how societies will react to these things, shape them, and be shaped by them.

25:39

When we're planning on what the future, we'd like to think specifically about these, in terms of tensions, how public opinion on one side or the other, and how it shifts along a continuum.

25:51

That will start to not only change, but also signal, which possible future we're headed toward.

25:59

We're going to talk about five of them now.

26:01

I'm gonna go off camera again a little bit.

26:09

The first tension, those who feel comfortable a bit about retirement, and those who don't.

26:16

This is the first generation to rely mostly on investment income rather than a defined pension and they're retiring.

26:24

The younger generations don't number enough to cover current Social Security payments.

26:28

And only about 37% of younger Americans think there'll be money left in the system when they retire.

26:34

They feel this tension between the fear of running out of money, and the fear of losing independence.

26:41

Today, 42% of whom don't have any money left after paying the bill.

26:46

Americans are uncertain about their financial tomorrow.

26:50

Worse yet, they are certain, but about a hopeless outcome.

26:55

Now, what if more people think the safety net will be pulled out from under them, or what happens of confidence?

27:02

Crows.

27:05

Tension two aging needs naturally versus keeping others guessing.

27:12

Cosmetics has been used by humans for millennia for a wide variety of reasons, including to disguise aging or smooth wrinkles.

27:21

More recently, surgery and injectables have taken the degree to which we can control our appearance even further.

27:28

So what's on the horizon? And how does that change as life expectancy changes?

27:33

Cody's Kevin Shapiro says the positive sign we see overall is that the self perception will be more positive and allow an openness for consumers to adapt and follow what's a very normal human biological process.

27:50

Tensioned three, living independently versus assisted living.

27:56

one thing that you hear loud and discussion of aging is the idea of being a burden on younger generations.

28:01

The way to avoid that most feel is to live independently, although that can present practical challenges as well.

28:08

Part of the challenge is that aging in place often requires care, even if it's just help with chores and fixing the Wi-Fi.

28:17

That care takes time and money for families, too.

28:20

Remember when Kate talked to Ramsey Alwyn from the National Council on Aging?

28:24

She said, that often means tradeoffs for those individuals to give their loved ones, the quality of support.

28:32

Because, as they often are taking time off work and maybe leaving work earlier than expected, in order to provide care.

28:42

Tensioned, for aging in place versus aging in an institution.

28:48

Americans vastly prefer to stay in their own homes as they age.

28:53

But it's not easy for older people who must maintain that home and drive for arendt's and appointments.

29:00

Meanwhile, their home itself might be working against them with too many stairs or narrow doors. As well as light switches and thermostats that might be hard to reach from a wheelchair.

29:11

Changing those things takes money too.

29:13

But so does caregiving.

29:16

AARP's, Rodney Harrell thinks that new tools can help us achieve our goal.

29:21

He says, technology is one of those areas in which we have potential to do more and more things that are helpful for us.

29:28

But we've just gotta get it right.

29:31

I'm part of right?

29:33

means making sure that that technology is working and affordable for everyone.

29:37

What happens if it's not?

29:42

Our last tension is about AI. Artificial intelligence, and trust.

29:47

A majority of people do not trust AI driven technology to assist with their caregiving, with most tech, tech grows until it doesn't.

29:58

It's more these products come to market and mature.

30:00

This 640 tension we see here could easily dissipate.

30:04

one might think that would certainly be the case, as current tech savvy, younger generations, age.

30:10

Door schooler of intuition robotics see is one potential counterpoint.

30:15

He says, you can learn things at any, at any age.

30:18

It just takes longer when you're older, But he notes quote: The rate of change around us is not slowing, it's accelerating.

30:27

Like, no point before in human history.

30:30

The amount of stuff you need to keep up with is not static, he says.

30:35

So, as tech advances continue to increase in coming decades.

30:39

Well, today's textures be able to keep up any better than today's elders have.

30:48

So, based on our data, conversations are research.

30:53

I put together a quick little vignette of one possible future.

30:59

I call this one, Taking the fun Out of funding, 2022.

31:03

You know?

31:04

Now, as early retirees fill the great resignation and uncertainty abounds, people are worried about their financial future.

31:12

People overwhelmingly want to age at home and remain independent but can they?

31:17

More technology is coming to market each day.

31:20

That should assist them to do so.

31:22

Yet, when, mostly, they don't trust. It'll help.

31:27

So, now, imagine it's 10 years from now. It's 2032.

31:30

Technology advances, but systemic policy reform fails to keep up.

31:35

Families who've had to learned how to spend way too much time and way too little space while cooped up during the pandemic of the early part of the previous decade, IE. Now, now find themselves pushed to the brink as their aging parents move in.

31:50

With parents are unable to afford to continue to live independently.

31:53

Multi-generational living is the only way to balance all the multi-generational caregiving needs.

31:59

Newly flexible housing format's help those, with the means to take advantage of flexible, relaxed, zoning.

32:06

But those needs needed balanced by an increasingly hybrid workplace.

32:11

Do we need the space above the garage for an office or for your mom to move in?

32:16

Elders could easily live longer, healthier lives, through advances in monitoring, synthetic biology, tailored health plans and telehealth, but do they want to?

32:25

Because they're faced with real tensions between wanting to be independent and facing dwindling 401 K balances.

32:31

But boomers hold the largest pile of money in any generation ever.

32:35

It's unevenly distributed.

32:37

As their wealth passes to the next generation.

32:40

That uneven spread doesn't help the entire generation catch up.

32:44

So, what are elders to do?

32:46

And how dark is a future, are much of a generation, outlives, it's cash.

32:55

But how will we, now, if it's a future we're really headed toward?

32:59

one way to think about it is to imagine how we might track some of these tensions we talked about and research them over time.

33:07

What happens if they begin to shift?

33:09

And what happens if, for instance, more people feel comfortable with their retirement, and they're retirement finances?

33:17

What does that future look like?

33:21

You might wind up with something more like this.

33:25

So let's imagine it's 28 32 again.

33:28

But for the length of this changing Waypoint, in which our exceptions of technology grows in relation to our food, and by extension, other areas of aging.

33:37

So what changes?

33:42

Perhaps now in 20 22, the federal government was led in both parties by people in their seventies.

33:48

Decades, this generation has held power and an increasingly broken system.

33:53

Despite the fact their peers were facing an increasingly untenable retirement, a caregiving situation they accomplished little to fix it.

34:00

After years of mismanagement by the boomer generation, the first genex president helped fix the broken safety net, gen X to the rescue.

34:08

Building on the Affordable Care Act, from that Genex Kaspar, President Obama.

34:14

After a tumultuous, first half of the decade democracy hit a tipping point and decided to tip back toward functioning.

34:20

The new president was able to usher in reforms to Social Security, Medicare, paid family leave and elder care as well as parenting, and that, coupled with changes to education funding allowed the middle-class to gain some of its footing.

34:33

Older Americans benefited from the changes immediately.

34:37

They were grandparents in and enjoyed flyover, financial footing zoning changes. That meant that they could move into a new apartment above their kids garage while they kept them company and focused. And while the grandkids were at school.

34:51

But they had to find new ways to entertain themselves as fishing and golfing became increasingly difficult for vulnerable populations, did an increasingly prohibitive climate.

35:05

All right, on that note, I want to leave you with four big themes.

35:10

one, the population is aging.

35:12

And this runs contrary to some Democrat demographic myths.

35:16

But this is a crucial point to understand if we're going to innovative solutions and policies to shape a meaningful future.

35:23

This is also an opportunity and perhaps a necessity for intentional innovation and thoughtful user experience design.

35:32

Tech can help, but it will not solve everything.

35:36

We're going to need a dedicated human workforce for caregiving, as well as accommodations made for the rest of our workforce, who are often doing caregiving work.

35:45

Let's also include parenting, as well as work work.

35:49

Therefore, innovation has happened at the policy level, too.

35:53

Workforce issues, as well as housing issues, as well as finance issues that we need in order to fund a longer, healthier life.

36:02

So ongoing health care costs, groups like AARP, and the brands they are working with, such as Lowe's, can help and are educating and preparing us for that future.

36:14

And the more we understand that we, and the more we accept, that we are aging, the more we will and can accept that that will come with changes to our skin, our hair, our bodies.

36:33

Now, for The Art of Action in the future.

36:36

Oliver: it appears on your Smart Pant.

36:40

And it takes your breath away Your dear friend Mariah is having a milestone birthday, you, she was getting up there in age, but you had no idea how old she was.

36:50

There are other people you know who have reached 165, even 170, but 150 is something amerasian never looked older than 100.

36:59

She is always ageless, Timeless, and priceless as her daughter likes to say.

37:04

This is going to be one **** of a bash.

37:08

So that's the future of aging valenza end with something from the past of aging.

37:15

Turning 50 Sergeant Bertolli lethal weapon, was fond of shaking his head and saying, I'm getting too old for this.

37:23

It's a line that has stuck with me, even if that movie has aged.

37:28

And while it stuck with me is something I often feel physically and mentally, I doubt that will ever fully go away.

37:35

But it's nice to think of a future where maybe we push that feeling out a few years for decades.

37:45

So, thanks very much for joining.

37:48

I'd like to thank Kate on my team, and Steven, and all of our collaborators, and all of the experts who joined in the conversations for this issue.

37:57

Check back next month.

37:59

Our next topic.

38:00

The future of identity.

38:05

We're going to be diving into the different ways that we express our identity, different ways that we build our identity.

38:12

There probably be some David Bowie and that soundtrack to if we're realistic and we're going to be flowing out our survey, it's going to be epic. We've got great folks we're talking to.

38:21

We're talking about all of these tensions, and we're talking about the tensions that are starting to come into play as we craft and build on virtual identities.

38:29

You won't want to miss this until then.

38:34

And that karma go for what the future saying.

38:37

When you imagined possible smiles, you think better questions today? Thanks so much for joining us.

38:48

That was great, Matt. Thank you so so much for today's super interesting presentation. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today.

38:55

If we didn't get to your question, then we will do so by e-mail, and you will also receive a link with today's recorded presentation.

39:04

Again, remember, you can reference the handout section in your event console for more about the research we shared today, and, of course, we welcome the opportunity to speak with you. So, please feel free to reach out to us. That now concludes today's webinar. Have a wonderful day.