States. From been revered in early being prevented, a disease that science will one day cure. Of author is the founder boomers 3. 0 a Consultancy Firm that advocates or more positive outlooks on aging. It includes meaningful relationships with baby boomers and our youth obsessed culture. He holds a phd and american studies and ama and english from the university of minnesota. As well mba from the university of georgia, he is also a Smithsonian Institute fellow. He has written for the new york times, the atlantic, the washington post, and has made recent appearances on npr and cbc radio. Please give a big warm welcome, we welcome him back here. [applause] thank you for coming everybody. First things first, i want to ask, how many people think about aging . They think that they are getting older . [laughter] it is just not on your radar. You do not think about it . You dont think about it much . Ok. For those people who do think about it, do you think about it in a positive way . How many people think about it as a positive experience . How many people think it is a negative experience . Wow. We are going to talk about all of that tonight. Tonights talk, i am going to follow the outline of the book. Which has a introduction, six chapters, beginning in the mid60s 1960s and then we are going to wrap up with a conclusion at the end. Off, i wanted to write the book and why i think it is worth reading. I think most obviously that aging is central to life in america today. There is a lot of interest that baby boomers like myself we are hitting our 60s and 70s. The back story to that, boomers are going to crash the economy. There is just not enough money in Social Security to fund them as they get older. There is just not enough doctors and nurses out there and say 20 years or so. If you think about aging it is a subject that resonates on a lot of different levels. Everybody is aging all the time. It is a universal experience. One of the very few. Who we it helps shape are and it reflects who we are as a personal level. And how we are viewed by others. If you think about the experiences that are common to everyone. Are born, we age and then we die. This is a happy story. Being central to where we are today. There are key moments in history , or country and the world in fact. Old foricans 65 years the next 20 years. Theearolds are fastestgrowing Demographic Group today. If there is one main argument in the book it is basically that the idea and the reality of aging contradict our social values. It sort of juxtaposes this, they are not in sync. Older people are largely disenfranchised and marginalized from the rest of the population. We will talk about that as well. I think the main culprit there is our youthoriented culture that is responsible for what i see is widespread ageism. How do i see it . I see it is blatant illegal discrimination. If you have a resume and a College Degree from the 1970s and now almost the 1980s it is trash. You have no chance of getting a job. Almost. From 55 until 80 demographically on a average level it is generally youd as a poster for your real life. Then you have this footnote where you are kind of in decline. That is the story of aging as well. I think people and that a group in that age group are seen as less attractive versions of themselves. I think you also see it in no good terms. We do not know what to call people. Elderly has been around, that is horrible. Seniors is becoming politically incorrect and going away. Older adult amateur adult, i do not know what that means. There are new terms that people are moving around. They are silly and ridiculous. Citizens, those are just terrible. Lets face it. I would think the term could be baby boomers. I think that will stay. There isink about it why we have this problem of aging. There is very few stories we not to learn this, we do learn this in school. I think there are very few positive that is to getting older and popular culture. Except for ways to delay it. The story practically with young people is that getting older is a negative experience. Even people in this room think it is a negative experience. It is veryk about it entirely natural. We all do it. Study after study shows that it a sense ofings contentment and wellbeing and satisfaction that you did not have when you were younger. I look at it as a positive extreme. My body will say otherwise. Your psyche will you Something Different. Baby boomers are much to blame for this. A lot of us are clinging onto what is remaining of our youth rather than embracing aging which is what i think we should do. A lot of us are pursuing antiaging. With products and therapies, we will talk a lot about that as well. This is a historic opportunity to really change the narrative and change the story of aging and getting older in america. Boomers are not really doing that. They are kind of clinging to their youth. Instead of trying to change the story, i think that can be really their lasting legacy. Of hundreda couple itrs in the introduction, was not always like this. Older people were venerated and they were look to as elders. Partly because it was rare, people do not live that long. In thedid live to 70 1700s you are seen as ordained to live longer. War oldercivil american started to living longer and it is not that unusual. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century how is that . I will get closer. It is the industrial age, it is the machine age, things like vitality become valued. Age homes and Nursing Homes become very popular. Becomingeople segregated from the rest of the population which is not a good thing at all. Social security is a blessing in some ways, fdr has that new deal. It is a bargain, now the older people excepting those entitlements are looked down from society. There are social problems because they cost money. There is a big tradeoff when that happens. Ii there are a amazing strides in science and technology. People are living longer. Scientists are trying to find out how they can combat this and cure this. It is look at as a disease. Through the 50s, older people are seen as frail and mentally incompetent. The health care and Beauty Industries recognize the problem of aging, there is not a problem it is entirely natural, they realize this could be a hughes huge business opportunity. So this is where i begin, that was the back story. Are the counterculture years in the 1960s. The Youth Culture is down in society as never before with baby boomers. People whoare older were born around the turn of the century, the greatest generation feel like outsiders. In time i used this. You are old in a country of the young. They are not really time to Older Americans in these counterculture years. The generation gap emerges as a big social problem. You see it in popular culture, there is a saying. Do not trust anyone over 30. Whos song they say they hope they die before they get old. In 1965 we have the lbj society which has medicare and medicaid. Just like 30 years ago with the new deal there is a tradeoff with this area they are forerful, at the same time people it makes them financially dependent on government entitlements. Older people now are seen as a minority group. They are separate from the , there areulation the gray panthers which is kind of riffing on the black panther movement. It is the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement for older people which exist to this day. You also see the field of gerontology grow. That is the study of age and the problems associate with aging. Even back then there are studies showing that the negative believes about older people are just as true. Learnpeople can and do new things. They are mostly happy and sexually active. Thewe are going to get into 1980s. Aging becomes a looming crisis as they be boomers hit middleage. This is the first time people recognize this demographic iceberg of getting old one day and the implications of that. There are apocalyptic scenarios with Social Security and medicare. People are predicting that there is going to be a generational war over resources went boomers start retiring. Who is going to pay for all of these people . They startedn looking at antiaging to stay young. With ways to allegedly stall the process of aging. Ing1984 there was the deag of america. You see widespread discrimination against seniors. The aging of the population really has no effect on the perception of older people. People are getting older but the narrative of the story is changing, in fact it is getting worse and it is one of those puzzles to make, wire people not friendly if there are so many getting old . It is a puzzle. The 1980s are a great time for multiculturalism and diversity. Older people are not really part of this widespread movement. Like women, people of color, coach ebt and disabled. They are getting writes that the elderly are not. Ageism is ironic, when you think about the number one american it is the senior citizen. Ronald reagan when he was elected was in his 70s. A prime example of productive aging. , their artat example Photo Opportunities of him chopping wood and riding horses. The idea that aging does not make sense. This is a time when forced retirement goes away and against to fade. You are seeing in the 1980s a nessept old being pushed back. We have to push back the numbers. Ofy 20 1, 1988, the number 3559yearolds surpasses 1824yearolds. As now people start thinking your perceived age instead of biological age. It is how you are perceived into how you perceive yourself and them these annoying phrases, like 50 is the new 40. 60 is the new 50. 90s the new 80, they are all silly to me. Ok, we will get into the 1990s. Boomers becoming central to the conversation again, the looming iceberg that will crash the system one day. Now the eternally youthful generation, baby boomers, you cannot hide it anymore. You are getting older. The aging ofn uses aquarius. I like it as a title. You see the pursuit of the fountain of youth really kicking in in the 1990s, because baby boomers are getting into their 40s. Researchers and marketers recognize it as a huge opportunity and you are also looking Alzheimers Research kick in as the epidemic begins around this. Today. Lion have it and despite all of this, people do not understand what it is like to be older. Studies show the third active life is usually an opportunity to grow, focus on oneself and let go of insecurities, that is what is coming out in the research. It is important to have a positive outlook, that is huge and undervalued, that one is only as old as one feels. You have a lot of power to shape how old you are in some respects. So here we have the demographic iceberg continuing to escalate. You are seeing for the first time in the conservative community a backlash against taxpayerfunded entitlements. Peter g peterson, the millionaire, billionaire, he is a loud voice for this and he actually calls older age subsidized leisure. So that says it all. Boomers, men and women, fighting back the physical signs of aging. Nutritionaldhea, supplements and super foods become big business, and cosmetic surgery is now routine. It is not a exotic thing anymore. Again, for both men and women. Ok, we are into the 21st century. Boomers are in their 50s, not much has changed. Youth is the primary currency, special currency of the day. They do not intend to look or act like their parents version standard the weekly called america in the nation of perpetual adolescence. And scientists are still looking at aging is a treatable disease, something we can fix. Um, the antiaging therapies of the day are vitamins, enzymes b12 shots, oils, herbs, nutraceuticals and supplements. The big one is hdh, that is really the entree. Do any of these work . No. There is no research to support they work. The only thing that does work is eating much less. It works in mice and it seems to work in adults, if you consume very few calories a day you are more likely to live longer. That is the one thing that looks like it works. You are seeing and popculture the celebrity dermatologists. Creams, just the creams are a billion dollar business, just the creams. And it is botox mania. Science is now interested in putting the fountain of youth into one pill. All of these are scattered and sometimes hard to take and nobody knows what has worked, but if they could put it in one easy pill, that is sort of the killer app. And at the same time, not coincidently, you have the completion of the human genome project, trying to tie research now to the decoding of the imaging. Human gene. Also, i keep mentioning the looming crisis. They figure not only will it be good in terms of his mess, of business, if we can make them live 20 years longer maybe we can make the money back and be able to fund the baby boomers as they retire. So pushing the aging crisis back a decade or two. What are they doing . Boomers are not doing anything people predicted to do. They are not retiring. They are not interested in that, they are working and volunteering. They are staying put in the current house or nearby. They are not flocking to retirement communities that their parents did, if they can afford it. And maybe they are inspired by people like bob dylan, not a boomer, boulder. But older. Mick jagger, eric clapton. They are getting it done. Making money, more money in their 70s than in their prime. Night, still getting it done, wonderful. 20052009. O this is when many local communities start thinking, oh my gosh, what will happen . Because now the older residents are outnumbering the children. Especially in the suburbs. They were built for families and for children and now the children are becoming older adults and what should we do . Should we continue to fund schools and youth services, or should we switch allocations more toward older people . So this is called the silver soon on me tsunami. Boomers, the oldest turning 60 years old, this is an entry point into sonority. But it is clear that this generation is different from other groups of seniors before in history. We had productive aging or successful aging, now these concepts of creative aging and successful aging emerge in the be known, it used to in the postwar years people would have a midlife crisis when they hit 50s or 60s. Agingis positive look at displaces that. Now the boomers are saying, i will do Something Different and challenging in my third at rather than sitting around thinking about how i failed in my personal or professional life. Basically what a midlife crisis was. That goes away. Midlife ors are rebooting, they are beginning different careers, encore careers or second careers. Going back to school, even having children, which is what i did. I had a child at 55. The first. That is how i rebooted. Very important book comes out, healthy aging. And the author gets it right, he argues we should celebrate older age. Science, golden science, should really look into the development of diseases instead of antiaging. If your antiaging, you are antihuman. Marketers finally catch up. , no idea whatking he is saying ok. Go, ok. Um, there were very few marketers that really targeted older consumers of until about 10 years ago, then they noticed there are a lot of people out there with money and maybe we should look at them. Advertising goes up in aarp. Appliances come out with older people in mind. That youth is still the priority. To this day, boomers account for 70 of every dollar that is spent. You would not know that from if you look out in consumer culture. Millennials are not good consumers. A lot of them do not want houses, they do not want cars, they do not want to be in debt and they all have college debt, so they cannot afford to buy anything. The marketers do not get that yet. Where we today . Going back some years, another historic the baby boomers reaching age 65. Are they flooding down to florida or scottsdale, no. We see in science and urgency to dimensions ofve aging and the wall street journal uses the term raging against aging. [indiscernible] 19 461964 is the boomers, yeah. [indiscernible] [laughter] wavence yeah, the first was 1946, so today they are 70. 70, 71. The first wave. We also have the alltime high number of grandparents, which are most grandparents are working fulltime, which is remarkable in itself. And there is going to be, one out of every three adults in a few years is going to be a grandparent in america and to the concept of the grandparent economy emerges. There is tons of money to be made with grandparents, because of course they want to spend tons of money in ways that parents will not. On their grandchildren. So this becomes a center of attention for marketers. Where we at now . Boomers are redefining old age. We are not retiring early as people predicted. We are not downsizing, we are still interested in buying stuff. Very little interest in Senior Family homes at this point. We are moving to retirement communities in seinfeld. Not many of us are doing that. And finally, scientists focusing, just as water proposed, the concept now is to improve ones health span rather than extend your lifespan. That means, how can we be free of chronic diseases as long as possible . Us. H is likely to come to rather than adding years to the backend of life. The older years, which are usually not good. Interestingly, Tech Companies are jumping into this in a big way. They have billions of dollars and some of the ceos are getting older and they want the fountain of youth to be discovered in their lifetime, so they can live longer. This is how it is being driven. You have google opening of a company, buying a Company Commander renaming a calico. The venture, with a famous scientist, made a ton of money and he found Human Longevity founded in the longevity. Billions of dollars being spent. People still do not understand why the human body insists to age, because it really contradicts what a body should do, which is survived. Contradictory to that. Why would a body want to kill itself . They have some ideas. It is always something. They do not quite understand why we get older. Ok, to wrap up, i think there has been some progress in how we perceive aging. But the subject remains largely taboo. You do not bring up a lot. Theres a lot of fear and dread surrounding it, despite Research Showing that getting older is usually enjoyable, sometimes the best part of life a lot of older people will tell you. Again, to this notion that why is there such ages them out there if there are more older people on the planet than ever before. It is strange to me. Youth is still ruling the day my america in particular is a youth obsessed society. It goes back 100 years or so. Rather than celebrating aging, a lot of them are dreading it. The whole concept of antiaging consumerism, still a billiondollar business and it reinforces the idea, i mean, look at the term, antiaging. It is negative toward aging. It is not a good thing if youre going to start celebrity aging. Again, no therapy or technique works except eating much less. Despite all this, i found a happy ending to the story. I am seeing boomers reintegrating and assimilating older people back into the mainstream, we are not segregated like we were. I think that is a good thing. The third act of life seem less and less as not just a footnote to do you wear when you are active and vibrant. And im predicting that even more than the counterculture, that this is going to be the final hurrah for boomers. They brought older people back into the mainstream. Rather than have them segregated, as they have been for the last 50 years or so. I think that will be our legacy. That is where i wanted to end up, on a happy note. That is what i got for you today. It has questions . Who has questions . [applause] lawrence do i have to stay here . Yes, please come to the microphone. This is being taped. [indiscernible] lawrence yeah . It has been my experience, i get a lot of mail from the agencies that request donations and demanding term limitations. And these people are getting old, not that there are incompetent. I guess a lot of information about burnout, which is happening with young people, and in my belief is part of the aging, premature aging process. Which means more people will get older. The whole series of denying sxperiences, of people, thu validating the presence of your children for the last 70 years. I have seen every 10 or 15 years, people say we are all getting old, lets make room for the next people to come along and deny anything that might have been happening during this time. Validatew ones well it. Lawrence i sense a lot of hostility toward older people. People just want us to go away. You had your time, now it is time for us. And we are not ready to do that. Yes . I do not think Ronald Reagan is a good example since he had alzheimers while he was president. Lawrence he got it during his second term. When he was elected, he was 70 years old. Anyway, my cousin is, i do not understand why you say Social Security is an entitlement and costs money. Half the money put in is from employers and the other half from employees. And, you know, it is our pension. It is not an entitlement and there is an easy solution, raising the cap. Lawrence my point is that there is a lot of backlash against it, people wanted to go away. Let me just say that i will turn 66 years old tomorrow. Lawrence happy birth day. I feel better physically and psychologically than i did when i was 26. Lawrence thank you. So it turns out that the baby boomers contribution to society, the emphasis on the importance of diet and exercise, which a lot of people my age are getting into, would you say that it is something that is helping the elderly people, the older people, they integrated within the American Society . Even if younger people are doing it. Would you say that is so . Lawrence i would say so. You have to be active and you have to keep going, whether it is physically or mentally, and it will help your body and your mind. Things are shifting, you cannot do the high impact stuff like you used to. There is a sport called people b poickle ball. I was kicking a soccer ball around this afternoon. Lawrence there you go. Sport ball is the hottest right now, it uses a paddle on a tennis court. Google it. It is all the rage. It helps you to stay fit, but easier to do than tennis or other sports. Thank you. Any University Lab where they are taking the dna of there are movies, years ago there was a stuntman in his 80s, now there is gene labelle and he is diving through windows. To take their dna and analyze it and find out what is it that these guys have. Also, i wanted to comment. One thing we could do, when you look at a movie, when they made fantastic,he xmen, innt have like it did 1961. There should be a protest against the moviemakers, you are lying about age. Lawrence there you go. I am sure they are working with dna and decades ago they would go to those areas of the world where people were routinely living to 100 years old. Like estonia or other sort of pockets in russia and other places and they tried to figure out what is going on and they did research. I do not think it is transplantable. I do not think you can create that. They comes out, not over centuries, but millennia, that your dna gets that way. Japanese also live longer. Is it low stress, or older people are venerated in the societies, like they tend to be in japan. I lean toward a genetics. That is thousands of years of making that happen. I do not think you can put it in a pill, personally. I think it would be scary if they tried. There were a couple of really big points, as good as your book was committed nothing like you are touching on. We stand 25 years preparing for our years preparing for our life and little or no time preparing for the last time of her life. Usen beat us in outliving and there is a reason for that they are better at finding purpose. Volunteering. They beat us at that. And even though mel friendship is always celebrated in film and literature and everything, when it comes down to it men are not necessarily, after the age of 60, making more contacts. Going out to lunch like the ladies are. Reaching out to family. So if youre wondering why they are making it to 83, you are knocking off a 78, those are some of the things we have to learn by. Does your book talk about that . Lawrence i talk about this whole daddy and a man blog scene, where men have been hooking up online. A Huge Community where there are hundreds of men talking about their lives. Which, you know, it is very pedestrian stuff but that is what they share. They have conventions and conferences, so there is a minimens movement for the men to connect, for the exact reason you are saying. They are finding each other online. It is all online. Then they meet in person. Men are achievement oriented with money. You can find purpose in life, making friends, going to hospitals, it is a different way of thinking on manhood. Do you talk about that . Lawrence do i talk about manhood . I talk about that in another book, my fatherhood book. But i tried not to talk about gender, race, ethnicity, because i wanted this book, of all my books history is about conflict and a different groups and this is one chance i can talk about it as a universal experience and i didnt want to break it down, how do women think about aging, how do men think about aging, it is too much. I wanted to focus on the central story, which is we all get older. Ok. I feel positively and negatively about aging. The first respect, it is wonderful to draw upon all this experience and see how values and even cultures have changed. It is an enriching thing, the aging process. On the other hand it is getting tougher to get around on the tennis courts, so, but i was stunned to hear you say that boomers are spending all this whatnot,llennials and other younger groups are not. Yet, advertisers seem to be, ony are marketing, focused lets get the 2540yearolds. How do you square that . Lawrence who those employees are, who work at those agencies, are there boomers . Not too many of them. They are millennials. They see the world through their eyes, which makes sense. They are not going to target their dad, or their grandparent. A lot of it has to do with the actual people that are working at these companies and their perspectives on life. Older people are not really part of that. So, i am trying to fix that. At a business level, to try to change that perception. You say they are not getting it right . Lawrence no, they are not getting it right. They think that boomers have everything and that they are not going to change their brand because they are 70 years old, which is untrue. We are just as open to new marketing and brand experiences as a 20yearold. My question is, do you attribute people having a negative impact on aging because of the proliferation of drug company adds on tv and all of these different problems that you can have . That nobody ever knew about. Lawrence right. Yes. I think that is a huge problem, because that is all you see for older people and it shows, on those shows better targeting older people and that older people watch and it leaves you with the impression that sickness is the only thing the old people have. Which is not true. Good point. The, my question concerns thing that you mentioned about the group that is aging the most, you said between 8594. Now, i have recently read that before we used to just talk about seniors or old age and now they talk about the young old and in the old old. It would seem to me that the old old has different problems. The young old really, most of them, are still able to physically do many more things. Lawrence right. Good point. I think the old old have many other problems. Can you go into that . There is a big difference. Lawrence yes. Some authors look at it, they have segmented age. I do not like to do that either. Did anybody see carl reiners hbo documentary . [indiscernible] i saw the trailer. Lawrence it is fabulous. Seniors andplus a he spoke, mel brooks and all those people. These people are doing amazing things. So it really depends on, it is luck. It is genetics. [indiscernible] lawrence i do talk about how a doctor is saying a new patient and that new patient is 70 years old, is a new patient comes into a Doctors Office and that patient is 70 years old, a doctor has no idea what is going to come through the door. The patient could have the body of a 55yearold or 50yearold, be fit as a fiddle. Or he or she could be a total wreck. So, you know, it varies tremendously. I look at it as mostly genetic. Yes . The young man at the microphone. [laughter] lawrence he is my brother. What kind of jobs are Older Americans getting . Is it to make more money . Lawrence they really are. That is one of the things that the experts did not get right. They did not anticipate so many of us would be working in front of screens all day on the internet, which is easier than working on the factory floor, which is why a lot of people cannot work 50 or a hundred years ago. They could not physically do it. They did not anticipate the revolution of computers and so that really changed in terms of how people work today. What was the other part . That was it . Ok. Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys coming out. [applause] lawrence i will be here all week. No, im kidding. [chatter] this weekend in American History tv on cspan3. Tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, university of washington Professor William more about compares the 1950s beatniks to the hippies of the 1960s. The beats were despairing veterans of the Great Depression and world war ii, the holocaust and the atomic age. The hippies were the optimistic children of the babyboom generation and the rising affluence of the postwar consumer boom. At 10 00 p. M. On reel america, oliver north 50 years ago appeared before committees investigating the irancontra affair. The way you are asking that question, that we intentionally deceived the american people, or had the intent to begin with. The effort to conduct these covert operations was made in such a way that our adversaries would not have knowledge of them, or that we could deny American Association with the association of this government for those activities. That is not wrong. Historians, noon, authors, and ron paul explore the consequences of americas postworld war ii security state. The people that like authoritarianism, they know it is illegal for an individual to go into your house and take what they want. Fortunately that moral standard still exists, you cannot take from people and hurt people. It happened, but mostly people recognize you cannot do it. But it is not illegal for the government to do it. Go to cspan. Org for the complete schedule. Next on American History tv, author Elizabeth Fenn talks about a tribe that lives along the upper missouri river. She won the 2015 posted price in history for her book, encounters at the heart of the world a history of the mandan people. This 45 minute talk was hosted by the library of congress in washington dc. Sydney i am pleased to introduce to you today Elizabeth Fenn, author of encounters at the heart of the world, which won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2015. As americans living in a very modern era in what is still a young country, we dont often think about the facts that we are resting upon centuries of other human cultures and civilizations. In her history of the man dance