An infatuation with the concept of immortality throughout the history of Western society has caused humans to seek to extend the average lifespan. Due to years of technological development and scientific advance, the elderly demographic is larger than ever before. Although this is a positive trend for those at San Luis Obispo High School with elderly loved ones, it takes a heavy toll on society.   

  Individuals who are immobile or solely dependant on a machine are draining copious amounts of money and not contributing anything back to society. According to foreignpolicy.com, more than half of elderly married couples and nearly 75 percent of single retirees depend on Social Security for the majority of their income in retirement. The healthcare system is spending money on keeping people alive that don’t have a chance of recovering or becoming self-sufficient.

  The increased preservation of human life is contributing greatly to overpopulation. Overpopulation then presents a plethora of problems, mainly running out of resources and pollution. When the excess human existence is weighed down by those who can’t give back to society, their purpose is meaningless.

  “As the baby boomers are dying they are taking with them a lot of human capital and there’s not enough of us, the next generation, to fill that gap. Senior citizens require a lot of attention and health care but they paid for the generation before them so they’re entitled to all of those resources. It’s just that there’s not enough of us to pay for their generation because it’s so big,” said Economics Instructor Gregory Ross.

  In a utopia, there would be resources available for everyone, however, due to the rapid decline of the environment, there needs to be a solution. It is not logically sane to eliminate the younger population in order to reduce harm to nature and overpopulation, therefore, older people who aren’t active in society are the next viable option to pick off.

  Legalizing assisted suicide, or euthanasia, throughout the United States should be heavily considered.

Sources:

foreignpolicy.com

retirementpeace.org