<
https://theconversation.com/this-unsettling-book-says-we-live-too-long-but-australias-problems-lie-in-power-not-age-277757>
"
Review: Going On and On: Why Our Longevity Threatens the Future – Lucinda
Holdforth (Summit Books)
Australia’s widening generational gap of wealth and inequality could reach
record levels within years, suggests recent research. This tension is playing
out in national debates over the budget and the housing crisis, as well as
provocative new books and films taking aim at baby boomers.
But centuries ago, Anglo–Irish politician Edmund Burke painted a very
idealistic picture of the generational social contract. He described society as
a partnership not only among the living, but between those who are living, dead
and yet to be born.
It is a comforting idea: that each generation, with no unlimited authority
vis-à-vis another, stewards the world on behalf of the next. But as Burke
himself warned, those who have held power rarely relinquish it willingly. The
idea of a stable generational social contract may be elegant in theory. In
practice, it runs headlong into human nature.
Author and former Labor speechwriter Lucinda Holdforth’s
Going On and On
lands squarely in this uncomfortable space. As a young researcher interested in
generational politics, I found her book both a breath of fresh air and an
affront.
There is something quietly disarming about a Boomer so candidly and polemically
siding with younger generations – it almost makes me more generous towards
older people. But youth is not a monolith, and neither is old age.
The book asks a confronting question: what price will younger citizens pay for
the rest of us living longer? Its core argument is that extended longevity
produces a structural challenge that risks distorting democracy, economic
priorities and generational fairness.
The problem, as Holdforth frames it, is that those living longer are not
willing to give up power – and that power is not being relinquished at the pace
required to represent younger generations."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
