The Future of Aging and Longevity - Flipbook - Page 61
The second role emerged as technology
became infrastructure. This is fundamentally
di昀昀erent from a tool that performs a task.
Infrastructure coordinates many tasks, o昀琀en
invisibly—changing what is possible in daily life.
The pandemic accelerated this shi昀琀 as the home
became a service pla琀昀orm for delivery, mobility,
and health care, not just where people age in place.
“What began as technologies
designed to solve individual
problems is becoming an
ecosystem that supports
everyday life and,
increasingly, a partner to
help people navigate it.”
As technology became infrastructure, the
design challenge evolved with it. The problem was
no longer whether a device worked, but whether an
en琀椀re ecosystem could be trusted to work invisibly
and reliably, across years and decades of changing
needs. The no琀椀on of Design for Longevity makes
that impera琀椀ve concrete: Rather than building
products for discrete life stages, it asks how homes,
communi琀椀es, services, and technologies can be
designed to evolve con琀椀nuously alongside the
people who live within them.46
Imagine a refrigerator that understands an
older adult’s nutri琀椀onal needs, automa琀椀cally
replaces and recognizes low or expired food,
and coordinates restocking through a trusted
service before anyone returns home. The older
adult and the family never see the transac琀椀on.
They experience only the outcome of a seamless
infrastructure: a kitchen that simply works. The
innova琀椀on is no longer the appliance. It is the
ecosystem connec琀椀ng retailers, logis琀椀cs, payment
systems, trusted access, and the home itself.
A third role is now emerging: technology as
partner. Ar琀椀昀椀cial intelligence is advancing just
as longer lives are becoming more complex.
Individuals make decisions about health, 昀椀nances,
caregiving, housing, work, and mobility over
decades rather than years. The challenge is no
longer 昀椀nding informa琀椀on. It is sense-making:
knowing what ma琀琀ers, what comes 昀椀rst, and what
to do next—not just for someone like me, but for
me speci昀椀cally.
This emerging role also creates opportuni琀椀es
for longevity planning. Rather than focusing only
on re琀椀rement or health care, longevity planning
integrates health, caregiving, housing, mobility,
昀椀nances, and social par琀椀cipa琀椀on into an evolving
life strategy. AI can support this process by helping
people an琀椀cipate future needs, explore scenarios,
and make more informed decisions over 琀椀me.
The MIT AgeLab’s Longevity Preparedness
Index makes the urgency visible. Of the eight
domains it measures, care received the lowest
preparedness score, just 45 out of 100.47 People
know caregiving will likely become part of their
lives, yet few have assessed their ability to provide
or receive care or to prepare for either possibility.
Consider an adult daughter caring for her
aging father. As his memory changes, insurance
paperwork accumulates and worries about driving
emerge, an AI partner does more than provide
search results. It organizes informa琀椀on around her
father’s circumstances, prepares ques琀椀ons for his
physician, iden琀椀昀椀es transporta琀椀on op琀椀ons, and
helps her think through the next steps.
Technology begins to extend human
cogni琀椀on. It becomes less a source of answers
than a partner in thinking. It does not replace
judgment. It helps make be琀琀er judgment possible.
Technology’s role will con琀椀nue to evolve as
be琀琀er tools emerge, infrastructure becomes more
connected, and AI partners become more capable.
The de昀椀ning innova琀椀ons of the next decade,
however, will not be measured by the intelligence
of our technologies alone. In an era of longer lives,
technology’s greatest contribu琀椀on may not be
helping us live longer but helping us live be琀琀er.
A D ECA D E O F P RO GRE S S , A D ECA D E TO ACT 57
