According to William Thomas in his book “What are Old People For?” we do not recognize that ageing is a natural part of a human’s development. It is a continuous and on going process. Instead, we are locked into DECLINEISM. The idea that somehow ageing has no positives and only negatives.

Much of research on longevity seems to be based on that ageist model. This sets an age of around thirty as an ideal and measures everything according to that standard. Ageing researchers invariably use measures that are at a peak when we are thirty. That is how the ageism creeps in. Physically we tend to peak in our early thirties.

The result is that we are allegedly declining for more than half of our lives. It does not matter whether we look at our senses, our bodies or our brains, the story created is one of decline. Does that make sense? Would evolution want us to think that way? It is all because of the measures that we chose.

A Different Set of Measures

We would not use the measures we apply to children to our adult self. When we are young we track how we a growing. There are door frames all over the world covered in scribbled marks. They measure the height of children, usually on their birthday. We measure what percentile their height is compared to their peers. When we stop growing we stop measuring. There are no marks at 30 or 40 years old. The percentiles exist but we do not care.

If we measured the rate of physical change then decline would start at the end of adolescence. Men claim to have more organisms below the age of twenty, so is everything else downhill? Satisfaction with sex increases for many years. Everything depends on the measure that we chose.

In other Newsletters I have talked about expertise and wisdom which grow with age. Practice does make perfect, and we do get better with age. It might be a mechanical task or learning how to work to a publishing deadline. Ageing gives us more chance to practice.

Tracking the Growth of Wisdom with Age.

Wisdom can grow throughout life.The psychological study of wisdom is relatively recent. It has emerged in the last thirty years. There are common definitions of wisdom. A wise person is aware of uncertainty and unpredictability. They know the limitations of their own knowledge. They recognize the existence of different perspectives and their legitimacy. They have compassion and empathy for other people, other generations and even nature. The result is that older people can often see interconnections not visible to the unwise. They develop different solutions. The wise solutions are more balanced in terms of the parties involved and the time horizon taken.

Wisdom does not come automatically with age. Wisdom does require experiences. It does need the passage of time. Experiences alone are however not enough and not all old people are wise. Wisdom comes from combining experiences with curiosity and a willingness to question one’s own beliefs. Wise people have that curiosity and are not locked into their beliefs. Those experiences are often formative. Becoming a parent. The death of a loved one. Expertise is the ability to do things well. Wisdom comes from learning the meaning of that expertise.

Wisdom can make a big contribution if given a chance.

Wisdom can help the individual. It can help throughout life but especially in older age. It has been shown to be a protection against loneliness. Loneliness itself kills more people than smoking. Wiser individuals have higher levels of well-being. Although not all individuals with high wellbeing are necessarily wise.

In other Newsletters I have looked at the value added by older workers. I used two key studies in Germany. They found that teams of mixed old and young workers were more productive than the young alone. On a vehicle production line, the number of vehicles produced is fixed by the speed of the line. Quality, however, varies according to the age mix. Young workers had stamina and strength, but older workers brought wisdom. Wisdom to spot an issue. Wisdom to know how to fix it quickly. Emotional maturity to fix problems and motivate improvement.

In the paper factory that is a modern insurance company wisdom had value. In routine processing tasks the young could outperform the old. However, in complex complaint handling, wisdom won hands down.

There is a pool of wisdom that grows as Society ages. It does not decline. It can and should be harnessed. It needs to be recognized and roles defined accordingly. It needs to be used appropriately. It cannot be replaced with artificial intelligence.

We need to counteract declinism by measuring ageing differently.