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A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

nytimes.com

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Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#71

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

icebraining wrote: post #13
fourstar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the literal purpose of our existence. Why would you discourage that?

That's like, your opinion, man. Not everyone agrees that our existence even has a purpose.

It's the opinion of the ancestors of every currently living thing on this planet, going back to the first organisms to have evolved. Any of them who thought otherwise is extinct because they failed to pass on their genes.

The future literally belongs to those who agree with the grandparent poster.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#72

Post by nickthemagicman »

matz1 wrote: post #28
nickthemagicman wrote: post #2

Capitalism is brutal. People spend time with people who provide the most value to their lives. And some people don't provide much value and they die alone.

It's been that way since forever, regardless capitalism or not.

I can't believe that. Elders and their wisdom used to be highly valued in Japan pre-capitalism.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#73

Post by theklub »

andygcook wrote: post #70
theklub wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So this whole comment was an ad? Great marketing.

To be honest, I read the whole article from the parent, which got my thinking about my grandparents because this topic's been on my mind. Then I just started typing and didn't really have a plan of where it'd end up. We honestly don't really make much money on the whole project because the margins are razor thing. It's not software and there's a physical product that needs to be mailed, which costs a lot. We could ja…

I think its a cool idea. I'm surprised there isn't something like that already.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#74

Post by crispyambulance »

fallingfrog wrote: post #24

I think I tend towards the Aubrey de Grey point of view on this- it's not necessarily anything anyone is doing wrong here, it's more that these folks are living in dying bodies that can't do what they want them to do. If they were suddenly young again- they could go out, make new connections, start over. With that said, I do see the point that this is a western/capitalist phenomenon in the sense that capitalism encou…

Folks following the Aubrey de Grey line of thought separate "the person" and "their body" as though the person exists as some kind of "software" running in "hardware" that is about to fail. It might not be that simple.

Being suddenly young again would certainly be delightful for a while but there's a huge psychological burden that comes with living for a long time. While it may be possible to extend the life of the body, there are related philosophical considerations that the "live-forever" folks IMHO are flippantly dismissing. It makes me concerned that in the distant future we could find ourselves as a society with ever more problems that we're not equipped to deal with. We'll all likely be dead by then, but it makes for a thought.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#75

Post by andygcook »

theklub wrote: post #73
andygcook wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I read the whole article from the parent, which got my thinking about my grandparents because this topic's been on my mind. Then I just started typing and didn't really have a plan of where it'd end up. We honestly don't really make much money on the whole project because the margins are razor thing. It's not software and there's a physical product that needs to be mailed, which costs a lot. We could ja…

I think its a cool idea. I'm surprised there isn't something like that already.

Yeah, I was surprised too. We tried looking for something so we didn't have to build it, but couldn't find anything that worked the way we wanted.

There's a few services that let you send post cards, but it's hard to tell a compelling story with just one picture. They also don't look great framed.

We've also seen some photo book services too, but they just tend to print on regular paper. We use real Kodak/Fujifilm photo paper, which look good around the house or in frames.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#76

Post by Fnoord »

yodsanklai wrote: post #39
autokad wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

having a child is for the parents, not the child. the parents happiness and goals comes first, not the child. its sad that people have forgotten that. the parents end up miserable, and guess who else will end up miserable? you guessed it, the child. wanting to have a child as to not be lonely in life is terrible? most kids are had for no reason at all, and its not terrible either. plus, I am pretty sure for 3 billion…

> having a child is for the parents, not the child Of course it's for the parents. You can't make a child "for the child", since it doesn't exist (and doesn't care) until you gave life to it. I don't have kids, and I've been told on several occasions that I was selfish for not doing so. Isn't it more selfish to have kids (who didn't ask for being born) for one's own joy?

> I don't have kids, and I've been told on several occasions that I was selfish for not doing so. Isn't it more selfish to have kids (who didn't ask for being born) for one's own joy?

There's a lot of positive things you can do for the environment: less or no (air, car) travel, avoid plastic and downcycling your waste, avoiding meat. As our population size increases the one best thing you can do for the environment is not having kids and if you do have kids stay as close to the amount of 1.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#77

Post by erasemus »

crispyambulance wrote: post #74
fallingfrog wrote: post #24

I think I tend towards the Aubrey de Grey point of view on this- it's not necessarily anything anyone is doing wrong here, it's more that these folks are living in dying bodies that can't do what they want them to do. If they were suddenly young again- they could go out, make new connections, start over. With that said, I do see the point that this is a western/capitalist phenomenon in the sense that capitalism encou…

Folks following the Aubrey de Grey line of thought separate "the person" and "their body" as though the person exists as some kind of "software" running in "hardware" that is about to fail. It might not be that simple. Being suddenly young again would certainly be delightful for a while but there's a huge psychological burden that comes with living for a long time. While it may be possible to extend the life of the b…

>there's a huge psychological burden that comes with living for a long time

What is the burden?

A burden I foresee is that people are going to have to choose between life extension and assisted suicide.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#78

Post by vixen99 »

mschaef wrote: post #33
fallingfrog wrote: post #24

I think I tend towards the Aubrey de Grey point of view on this- it's not necessarily anything anyone is doing wrong here, it's more that these folks are living in dying bodies that can't do what they want them to do. If they were suddenly young again- they could go out, make new connections, start over. With that said, I do see the point that this is a western/capitalist phenomenon in the sense that capitalism encou…

> these folks are living in dying bodies If you're not, please let us know your secret.

Yes. Break the 'them & us' concept and solutions will present themselves.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#79

Post by Parcissons »

gourou wrote: post #44

Japan's elderly population (25%) is much higher than any other OCDE country (14.5% for the US). Investment in robot assistants for the elderly hasn't been particularly fruitful, therefore Japan is slowly turning to immigration to take care of them. https://data.oecd.org/pop/elderly-population.htm#indicator-c... http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/01/japan-prefers-robot-bear... https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/its…

My aunt worked in geronto-theraphy - and always told us about the russian and polish care-takers working at the nursing homes caring for elderly SS-Soldiers in 90s and 20s. What a job, feeding the guy who might have murdered your grandparents. I hope having immigrants come to help, japan is able to cast off its racism.

Re: A Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death

#80

Post by lazerpants »

ashark wrote: post #68
somberi wrote: post #52

My mother-in-law lives in an active community where old people live. The other day I had gone to visit her and she was playing bridge with a dozen people. I thought to myself "There is a 1000 years of history here in this table". It was a humbling thought.

Bridge is freakin' great. It's recently infected my 25-35 age range circle of friends and now we've almost all caught the bug. It's like some kind of partners chess, but meaner, in card game form. A little like spades if you're familiar with that, but makes spades look like a game for babies. No requirements for multiple or specially prepared decks like some games (hand & foot, pepper) so it's convenient, too. Which…

Plus, it's Warren Buffett and Bill Gatess favorite card game (they play together).
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