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This Aspen Lecture, available on the Aspen Ideas to Go podcast, features Laura Carstensen, Fairleigh Dickinson professor in Public Policy at the Department of Psychology at Stanford University. She is also director of the Stanford Center on Longevity.
We are approaching a watershed moment in human history; a time when old people outnumber children and living to 100 is commonplace. There are major challenges associated with this dramatic and sudden increase in life expectancy, yet, Carstensen says we must not lose sight of the fact that long life presents unprecedened opportunities. If we use science and technology to solve problems associated with aging and we develop new social norms and lifestyles, she asserts that the entire life course can be redesigned in ways that dramatically improve quality of life at all ages.
The Aspen Lecture convenes some of the world’s greatest minds in an interdisciplinary series that explores topics ranging from the Big Bang to representative democracy to Shakespeare.
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