All over the world – but mainly in developed countries – people have a gift from science and civilization: the benefits of retirement at an age when most of them are still independent – society tells these people they are “old”, yet they feel “young” – what to do with the rest of that time?
Divided in 3 parts – the body, the spirit, the society – the four French writers discuss this newly found life for the French audience mainly.
The newly found longevity is a slow-acting bomb caused by women’s education and family planning as well as science advances. Being moderate and having good genes has always produced centenarians, but now this has changed for the majority of Europeans. As one gets older, one needs to manage life with less resources and attachments. Typical for the French culture, the authors explain CRON (caloric restriction with optimized nutrition) with an emphasis on moderation which is very different from American books 🙂
Every elder that dies is a library that burns – society should encourage these precious brains instead of discriminating against them. As the population ages we move towards an inevitable gerontocracy – where paradoxically seniors are asked to consume more and more with their newly found free time and medical issues while being avoided on the job market.
By advocating for early retirement and giving those jobs to the young, the governments are actually creating larger expenses on the long term – the quantity of work depends on innovation, it is not a fixed quantity and the workers are not a commodity; they are not interchangeable.
It is the age of our arteries that matter – not the chronological age!
Will we get to a state of “suspended aging” helped by all sorts of prostheses?
Too bad this book wasn’t (yet) translated in English – you can find it in French at your closest library here. There is also a dedicated website (in French too) for this book.
