I am enjoying my ninth decade on the planet totally convinced that the enhanced prosperity of Australia depends on people of my age continuing in either full or part time employment.
I also firmly believe that early retirement leads to premature death or a fast track to a nursing home.
However, I am very aware that the increasingly rapid advance in technology is replacing the need for human beings to be the dominant element in the workplace. This means that the chances of anyone at any age gaining employment diminish daily unless our profession happens to be technology.
So, when ageing reaches its peak worldwide in 2050, the world will be a very different place to what it is now. So, we must commence planning immediately to meet this incredible change and ensure that we have a quality society of creative productivity in which all ages have a role.
The achievement of this goal is highly possible if we tackle it positively and urgently as the world faced a similar crisis when the Industrial Revolution occurred a couple of centuries ago. Unskilled people gradually adapted to it despite its many inhuman elements.
One instance of the many possibilities that will arise is that, as technology advances, a myriad of obsolete equipment will become available at a very cheap cost and it can be adapted by people of initiative to fill niche gaps in the marketplace for both goods and services.
In 2050 it may be that technology will create a world in which most people will choose to work part time in order to add quality to their family and social life while happily existing on a lower income. This will be a very good thing so long as leisure time is used creatively, not lazily.
So, let us all work and plan now to set Australia on a course that will take full advantage of a totally different high tech world while making sure that older people can join with all others in making a positive contribution.
To have a role in this, all old guys like me must enhance and expand our participation in life long learning that equips us to be of good value to ourselves and the nation.
Yours at Large
Everald Compton
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