11 minute read
TRANSETARIAN REVOLUTION THE STRENGTH OF INTERGENERATIONAL FUTURES Rosa Alegria
TRANSETARIAN REVOLUTION
THE STRENGTH OF INTERGENERATIONAL FUTURES
By Rosa Alegria
THE transetarian revolution is a phenomena of the transitory world. A revolution that emerges from the construction of identities no longer fits into the age groups categorized by demographic studies.
Living in an ageless world is for everyone, not just for the elders. Because age limitations affect everyone. We are already transetarians beings: individuals in transition of time, inbetween ages. Thinking about the speed of transitional time, it is very likely that transetarian will be a new word to be included soon in our official dictionary.
This is what the transetarian revolution is about: the potential of who we are, not what we should be by age, as the generational classifications establish.
Generation defined
There are different theoretical approaches to the concept of generation, from biological to social. Positivists such as Augusto Comte framed the biological determinant to outline ages. Mannheim, in turn, disregarded age as a metric and adopted the term generation associated with the very dynamics of social transformations. According to Mannheim,s perspective, generations can be considered “the result of many discontinuities produced precisely by changes.” In this perspective, a
generation is comprised by the era in which we were born and how this historic moment impacts our worldview and how we relate to life.
Ageless World – Age borders doesn´t make sense anymore.
For the first time in history, we have six generations living together - in families, at school, at work, in communities, on the streets and on social media. We are at a time when:
n we can choose mutual respect and intergenerational cooperation. n everyone can be seen and heard and valued n identities no longer fit the age groups n we are tribes floating in time n technology is no longer a dividing brand between generations: n children and adolescents have the authority of knowledge over adults for the first time in history
n Chronology is less important than experience; time is being a space to be occupied by the quality of the experience (Kairos x Chronos) n Objective realities are giving way to subjective realities
Among the developments carrying the future of intergenerational relationships, I highlight three of them: increasing longevity, digital revolution and the postmodern subjectivity.
longevity
digital revolution
subjectivity
TRANSETARIAN AGE (Rosa Alegria 2018)
1. Hyper-Longevity
2020-2030 is the Healthy Aging Decad promoted by the WHO World Health Organization.
We are living 4 years longer than in the last decade. The unprecedented longevity of the population is the result of the medical and scientific revolution of the previous decades that will allow the coexistence of different generations.
Methods have been uncovered for measuring our biological age. The implications of these kinds of technologies will establish a critical first step towards reversing aging and increasing longevity.
2. Digital Revolution
We are truly on track to becoming one digital supersociety. In this new reality, technology is no longer a symbol of the great divide between the generations. Seniors are more connected to the Internet than ever before and are the fastest-growing population in social media.
The creative potential that exists behind intergenerational dialogues is fabulous and still unexplored.
“If you didn’t know how old you are, how old would you be?” - Confucius (552 – 479 BC)
3. Postmodern subjectivity
For many authors postmodern culture is the one in which appearance and spetacle is confused with reality, fostering subjectivities that blurr differences; speaking about age, this differentiation becomes more and more subjective, from objective-chronological to subjective-psychological.
This is a time in which subjective ages (also called psychological) that refer to internal experiences regarding their ageing process is taking the place of objective age (also called chronological or biological).
NOTES:
1 Pierre Bourdier (Symbolic Power) Jean Baudrillard (Simulacra and Simulation), Sigmund Baumann (Liquid Modernity) 2 A partnership with CPM Research with the researcher Oriana White. 3 These are some extracts from the research - they do not represent the full study. 4 a particular period of history, especially one considered remarkable or noteworthy under which a generation was impacted
7 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/11/metaverse-will-bring-facebooks-privacy-problems-toworkplaces-whistleblower-says/
Foresight Intergenerational Study
I started researching intergenerational relationships in 2018 with the creation of Pangera, a research group I co-created to promote intergenerational relationships. Focus groups and online questionnaires involving five generations.
The first started in 2018 with 25 people of all ages organized into two focus groups in São Paulo, Brazil. The second phase continued in 2019, involving 245 people from all ages who answered virtual questionnaires. Results were presented at the 2019 WFSF Conference in Mexico. This is not a concluded study. A Post-Covid assessment will be conducted in 2022.
The first results clearly demonstrate that the feeling of age one has is not something fixed, chronological, continuous; it depends on how your day goes, in what situation and who you are with. Generational letters (X/Y/Z) are also plastic by encapsulating typologies reinforcing stereotypes.
AGE SENSING
The lines we have carefully drawn between age groups are blurring. Cultural stereotypes catalog the ages; age sensing is more subjective than objective and is related to:
1. Who you are with: “When I go out with younger people, I feel younger.” (Baby boomer) 2. Where you are: “at work, I feel forty years old” (Centennial) 3. What you are doing: “Sometimes I feel older than my mom when I’m taking care of her.” (X generation)
FUTURES SENSING
A. What will happen is already determined and will be a continuation of where we are: 10.9% B. The future contains several possibilities and is not determined: 89.1%
August 2019
A. We don´t have influence on the future: 5.7% B. We have great influence on the future: 94.3%
INTERGENERATIONAL FUTURES
In the next ten years there will be much more integration between generations 81.3%: agree 18.7%: don´t agree
SOCIETY IN 2030
What will be the 2 main social realities?
2 choices - the most voted:
First: psychosis pandemic puts the world on alert
Second: greater coexistence between the youngest and the oldest
This same tendency of optimism from the oldest and negativity from the younger ones has been consolidated
While 67% of those aged 21 to 37 indicate the possibility of a pandemic putting the world on alert, coexistence in large cities, promoting well-being are the views of those aged between 54 and 72
METAPHORS
Which of these images best represents the future? 1. dice game 2. roller coaster 3. river 4. ocean 5. blank page 6. road 7. none
The blank page, most cited among these images, is more present among adults over 38 years old, while Rio (River) tends to be emphasized by people between 21 and 37 years old.
FUTURES GLIMPSES What can happen in 2030?
SILENT (74-91)
BOOMERS 55-73 GENERATION X 39-54
MILLENNIALS 23-38
GENERATION Z 7-22
When we are over 70s, we think about future generations and expect a better but collaborative, creative world from which the inclusion of the poorest and democracy is fully incorporated. It is a desirable future for descendants!
A more optimistic view begins to emerge as age increases. A feeling that Brazil is going to improve and that sustainable habits are beginning to be incorporated by society generates a breath in daily pressures. The future is happier and less threatening
The technology that eliminates papers and work spaces, produces a freedom that imprisons the human being to be in constant connection, in constant alert where depressions and pandemics are present in the near future. The future is hours away!
Environmental collapses predominate for the younger ones. Problems of migratory settlements and the preservation of the planet are fears for the survival of them and their future children. The future scares!
The future: worst or better than today
Most believe that the future will be better, especially among the elderly, over the age of 72; the youngest are the ones who most point to a future worse than the current one. Importantly, this study was carried out before the COVID 19 pandemic. This optimism, if the study were carried out during or after the pandemic, could be affected.
August 2019
Futures thinking to understand and connect generations
Futures thinking as an instrument to better understand different ages reflects how each generation relates to the changing world around them. Working with the perception of the future under intergenerational perspectives is to incorporate all knowledge that is developed in a hybrid field, where foresight techniques are added to the dimension of human sciences.
It means saying that each generation determines its fears and expectations for the future, different in each phase of life. The connection with all of them is the link that gives foresight application a creative and diverse operationality, a robustness in the creation of strategies due to the challenges that need answers by representing age diversity.
As changes in demographics, lifestyle, and life expectancy develop, age classifications no longer translate the different realities of the “epoches” and cannot accommodate the needs of future generations.
The fragility of anticipatory thinking is found in all generations. With the pressure of today’s multiple challenges, by creating intergenerational futures, we can extend the present (Elise Boulding) to strengthen, across age diversity, ideas and strategies that creatively respond to multiple challenges. For the youngest, a much broader time horizon is extended; they have an empty temporary territory that can be filled with the past experience of previous generations. In this present elongated by the past and by the future and marked by problems that affect all ages - reside the opportunities for social transformation through a changing age group.
This study has indicated that there are more convergences than divergences in the relationship with the future between all generations. This is a great opportunity to create projects that through generational integration can satisfy broad needs and mitigate age conflicts.
Generational integration in thinking and creating futures allows all individuals to fully realize their ability to participate in the most diverse áreas of society through intergenerational knowledge and experiences to design better futures for all
REFERENCES
n Abelow, Dan - Imagine a New Future: Creating Greatness for All (2014) n Alegria, Rosa (2018) A revolução transetaria. Futuro Exponencial. https://futuroexponencial.com/ revolucao-transetaria/ n Alegria, Rosa (2018) E se não tivéssemos idade? www.linkedin.com/ pulse/e-se-n%C3%A3otiv%C3%A9ssemos-idade-rosa-alegria-1/ n Alegria, Rosa (2017) A redenção tecnológica entre as geraçõeswww.linkedin.com/pulse/ reden%C3%A7%C3%A3o-tecnol%C3%B3gica-entre-gera%C3%A7%C3%B5esrosa-alegria/ n Baudrillad, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. University of Michigan Press. 1994. n Coupland, Douglas – Generation A – Scribner, 2009 n Da Moota, Alda B. Dossiê: A atualidade do conceito de gerações na pesquisa sociológica. Soc. estado. vol.25 no.2 Brasília May/Aug. 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-69922010000200005 n Da Silva, Maria C. Pereira. A herança psíquica na clinica psicanalítica. Revista Brasileira de Psicanalise. · Editora Casa do Psicologo/Fapesp São Paulo,Volume 43, n. 2, 195-198 · 2009 n Eckersley. Richard Eckersley, Cahill, Helen, Wierenga, Ani and Wyn, Johanna - Generations in Dialogue about the Future: The hopes and fears of young Australians – Australian Youth Research Centre 2007 n Ferrigno, Jose C. Coeducação entre gerações. Edições SESC. 2013.Sands, Karen. Ageless across generations. The ageless way. Revised Edition 2018 n França, Lucia Helena, da Silva, Acina M e Barreto, Maria Simão - Programas intergeracionais: quão relevantes eles podem ser para a sociedade brasileira? n Gordon, Theodore & Glenn, Jerome – El estado del futuro – versión 19.1 (2018) n Hegazy, Nourhan Khaled. Critical Future(s) of Aging in Society- Understanding the Potential of Intergenerational Collaboration. Submitted to OCAD University in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Design in Strategic Foresight & Innovation Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 2016 n Jaeger, Hans - Generations in History - Reflections on a controversal concept 1977 (pp 273-292) n Pangera Mundo sem Idade – Facebook community www.facebook.com/groups/www.pangera.com.br/ n Sands, Karen - Ageless Across Generations in The Ageless Way: Illuminating The New Story Of Our Age (Revised Edition 2018) n Vern Bengtson, W. Andrew - The Changing Contract Across Generations – Walter de Gruyter & Co, June 1993 n Weller, Vivian. (2010) A atualidade do conceito de gerações de Karl Mannheim. Soc. estado. vol.25 no.2 Brasília May/Aug. 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-69922010000200004 n World Health Organization – Decade of Healthy Ageing, Baseline Report - file:///C:/Users/Rosa%20Alegria/ Downloads/9789240017900-eng.pdf
VIDEO PANGERA – AGELESS WORLD
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnulZMI_aHk&ab_channel=RosaAlegria
