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The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

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Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#81

Post by 01100011 »

throwaway173738 wrote: post #17
01100011 wrote: post #14

Old people are organized and more social. I see it in my community. They run the newsletters and they host community events. "Oh that's because they're retired!" No, many of them are not. Many still work. I want the gerontocracy to end, but I'm also worried what takes its place. Gen Xers like me seem to lack some of the abilities present in our older generations. We'll probably be more equitable and fair, but will we…

Organization is a skill that can be passed on, and to the degree that old people are still doing it themselves they’re depriving us of opportunities to learn and to practice and to benefit from their experience. That’s why we’re not as good at it.

Sure, and if I was so inclined I could go rub noses with them. They're eager to find young folks who are community minded. But I don't want that. I'm gen x and full of cynicism and antisocial attitudes. The only people I know who aren't that way in my generation are churchgoing types and a few influencers.

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#82

Post by ungreased0675 »

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #43
ungreased0675 wrote: post #4

Term limits would fix it

Term limits are perhaps the dumbest idea that ever plagued democracy. The idea of mandatory firing your most qualified, experienced employees in an incredibly difficult job that can only be learned with on-the-job experience is literally insane. If not for term limits, the US would have had Obama in the presidency this entire time instead of the absolute garbage scraps that were left over when they fired the only per…

If your hypothesis had any merit, shouldn’t Congress work far better than it does?

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#83

Post by applfanboysbgon »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #82
applfanboysbgon wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Term limits are perhaps the dumbest idea that ever plagued democracy. The idea of mandatory firing your most qualified, experienced employees in an incredibly difficult job that can only be learned with on-the-job experience is literally insane. If not for term limits, the US would have had Obama in the presidency this entire time instead of the absolute garbage scraps that were left over when they fired the only per…

If your hypothesis had any merit, shouldn’t Congress work far better than it does?

No. Term limits have no bearing on the skill floor, only the skill ceiling. By capping employment at 8 years, you place a hard limit on how good your employees can become. However, removing that limit does not magically make all of your employees good. You are still responsible for choosing to employ competent employees. If, after 8 years, an employee is still not good at their job, you have the option to fire them. That American voters are currently not exercising the option to fire bad employees is its own problem, and not a problem that is reasonably solved by mandatory firings, because the underlying cause is still there and voters who are inclined to vote for bad employees will simply choose to employ new bad employees.

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#84

Post by johngossman »

tsunamifury wrote: post #7

This is likely the worst issue humanity will be facing over the next 50 years, even more than climate change. An increasingly old demographic will sabatoge the future of humanity as they drain enormous resources and abuse democratic processes to reroute resources to their preservation of life over young people and familes. Young people and families will choke to death under the strain of elders who demand unlimited s…

If only the olds would die we could build more datacenters!

More seriously, why wouldn't older, longer-lived people be more likely to address long-term problems like climate change?

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#86

Post by johngossman »

throw-234 wrote: post #51

> Our gerontocracy is not the result of a malevolent plan, .. Boomers aren't distinctively evil.. The fact that they are so numerous and the fact that they are aging in era when life has been extended make the syndrome endemic. .. America faces a gerontocratic crisis of succession on the scale of society itself. The melodrama of succession—­waiting for the old to make way for the new—­defines not only our politics bu…

Wait...aren't you quoting the Boomers from the 60s?

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#87

Post by bell-cot »

WalterBright wrote: post #28
bell-cot wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Penalizing people who don't vote will not result in carefully considered votes. Voting rights include the choice to not vote.

Beyond "what superficially sounds best for me", I don't see much evidence of "carefully considered" voting now. :(

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#88

Post by bell-cot »

bell-cot wrote: post #2

[flagged]

9 hours, 5 serious HN users replying...and nobody noting that "A Modest Proposal" might flag satire.*

Or that my "proposed" solution, in many ways, describes the current status quo. Tricks like California's Prop. 13 have created enormous gaps between the taxes paid by the old and the young. Warren Buffet has criticized how much lower his own (income) tax rates are than his secretary's rates.

Some days I feel really, really old.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#89

Post by johngossman »

RickS wrote: post #56

I have trouble predicting how public sentiment will evolve over time. I'm not that young, and still and the last 10 years have left me with an absolutely blistering distrust of the 70+ crowd on any matter pertaining to positions of authority. I'd like to see ~67 and ~72 become the other 18 and 21: hard lines beyond which the law progressively rescinds the presumption of total competence. It's not a pretty solution. T…

Go look at the demographics of the last election and then tell me which groups shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Re: The Old Guard: Confronting America's Gerontocratic Crisis

#90

Post by sam_lowry_ »

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #83
ungreased0675 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your hypothesis had any merit, shouldn’t Congress work far better than it does?

No. Term limits have no bearing on the skill floor, only the skill ceiling. By capping employment at 8 years, you place a hard limit on how good your employees can become. However, removing that limit does not magically make all of your employees good. You are still responsible for choosing to employ competent employees. If, after 8 years, an employee is still not good at their job, you have the option to fire them.…

Back when USSR was a global superpower there was a trend in sci-fi to describe the communist societies of the future.

One of the distinctive features of such societies was the ability to switch jobs every few years, including changes from leadership positions to menial jobs, from engineering to humanities.

P.S. See Ivan Yefremov works for instance.

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