97-year-old athlete Charles Eugster, Lynda Gratton, and Aubrey de Grey discuss aging and working in later years. They explore challenges, benefits, and societal perceptions of aging. Topics include redefining retirement, embracing activity in older age, and advancements in age-related research. The conversation challenges traditional views on growing old and emphasizes the importance of staying active and engaged as we live longer.
Ageing workforce challenges traditional retirement norms, advocating for continued work engagement in old age.
Researchers aim to extend human lifespan up to 1,000 years by combating biological ageing processes.
Deep dives
The Increasing Longevity Challenge
The UN predicts a significant increase in the elderly population globally, with more than half of babies born since 2000 expected to live to 100. Charles Eugster, an active 97-year-old athlete and author, advocates for working well into old age. He criticizes current retirement systems and argues for a more active approach to aging, suggesting that existing attitudes towards retirement are outdated.
Challenging Ageism and Productivity
Anne Carp, a sociologist, challenges ageist stereotypes that equate old age with dependence and reduced productivity. She argues against fetishizing work in old age and emphasizes being the best version of oneself at any age. Carp warns against prescriptive ideas of aging and highlights the need for a more inclusive and diverse perspective on growing older.
Debating the Future of Aging
Aubrey de Grey and researchers push boundaries by exploring ways to stop or delay aging. De Grey advocates for maintaining health in old age to prolong life, while Linda Gratton and Andrew Scott predict drastic societal changes with the expectation of 100-year lifespans. They foresee a need for continuous retraining and reinvention across a potentially seven-decade-long career, challenging traditional notions of the life stages.
Manuela Saragosa investigates how we should age. We're all living much longer yet we live in a world that prizes youth and productivity above all. So, we're asking how to age? For many of us it will mean working beyond the usual retirement age. Manuela hears from those who argue that's something to welcome, not dread. Including 97-year-old athlete, oarsman, writer and former dentist Charles Eugster. Also in the programme: Lynda Gratton, co-author of The 100-year life and Aubrey de Grey, a British researcher on aging who claims he has drawn a roadmap to defeat biological aging and that the first human beings who will live to 1,000 years old have already been born. (Photo: Charles Eugster at the Henley Royal Regatta. Credit: Getty Images)
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