A Wellcome future?

Whilst in London this last week, I was able to spend a bit of time at the Wellcome Collection’s “Coming of Age” exhibition (next door to the Wellcome Trust). It explored perceptions of ageing – from adolescents to seniors – and what we can do to prepare for ageing. Some striking things included:

–  The fact that the creeping nature of the ageing population (with many more very old people than in the past) means that many societies have not come to grip with possible impacts. This is certainly something we have been trying to inject into many of our foresight projects, and it is surprising, how often it is ignored.

–  The massive disparities in life expectancy that can exist between people living in different districts of the same town. This is something I will want to look into more outside of the English context. Whilst there is likely a disparity everywhere, I wonder if it is so serious in mainland Europe?

–  The efforts made by some to identify the causes of ageing, and even to prevent or reverse it. As a regular reader of latest tech trends, this is nothing new, but the point is well made, that there is little public discussion of what happens if they actually succeed!

But there is a debate starting, and I notice more articles on this theme recently, e.g. in “The Economist” on Europe’s “Grey Expectations”. This pointed out that older people turn out to vote more consistently at elections than younger ones and hence affirmed that “The future democracy is increasingly decided by voters who don’t have one.” Leaving aside the deliberate provocation, this theme and others is going to have to be discussed if we are to reverse the current trend of younger folks voting for extremes, as they feel “left behind” by the generations above (and interestingly, the data shows that young males are increasingly extreme right, and young females extreme left).