Robots for Elders: A Trojan Horse?

Children have no practical value in production, so Technocrats have no problem allowing them to be exploited for slave labor to create value. Elders cannot be exploited because they become too weak, too mentally unstable, etc. Elders are thus a complete drag on economic activity and therefore can be sacrificed just like children, ⁃ TN Editor
According to Our World in Data, in 2017, for the first time in history, the number of people older than 64 surpassed the number of children under 5
“Age tech,” from eldercare robots to surveillance devices, is the technocrats’ coveted answer to the problem of the growing number of people with disability and dementia
This demographic imbalance is a result of both the industrial-scale poisoning and the deliberate campaign to reduce fertility, detailed in no uncertain terms in the Kissinger report
To confuse us more, the propagandists are coming up with a whole new language to describe our elders and their needs
This story is about a new market grab and a new brand of hype. Let us take a good look at the shiny marketing brochure for “eldercare technology.” It seems like the important investors, perched high, are very excited about the opportunity to squeeze more profits out of the demographic and health crises that they have previously created with their own hands — and to “monetize” the elders like captured pets, while pretending that they are doing it for the elders’ own good.

Ehm, who are our house experts on monetizing manufactured woes? The WEF folks! In 2021, they inquired: “Ageing: Looming crisis or booming opportunity?” Seemingly, the decline in health and fertility rates is a looming crisis for us, lowly peasants — but it sure is a booming opportunity for their crew!

The proverbial owners of everything are saying that “by 2050, the number of adults over the age of 65 globally will double, reaching a staggering 1.6 billion, with the largest growth in the developing world. This growth will be one of the greatest social, economic, and political transformations of our time, that will impact existing healthcare, government and social systems.” (Yay, new normal, hooray!) They continue:

“We can begin to make investments in our support systems (enabled and scaled by technology) that encompass a coordinated response from governments, society, academia, and the private sector.

To truly bring the holistic services needed to market, device makers, developers, enterprises such as retirement homes and insurance companies, civil society, policy-makers, and academia should come together to develop a unified platform that includes Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence [emphasis mine].”

Sure, when one has a hammer, everything is a nail! Meanwhile, the WEF story lists the following areas of eldercare technology:

Robots
Telemedicine
Tablets for communication and entertainment
“Smart” platforms that integrate electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records with AI and analytics (yay!!)
Wearables
Voice, touch, motion, and other assistive technologies
Connected IoT devices and sensors
Technologies for safety (monitoring and alert devices)
Sensory aids (e.g., hearing devices)
Gig economy services (e.g., meal delivery)
Self-driving cars
Oh and who is literally investing in this? According to the WEF, Microsoft does. “For example, Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare helps manage health data at scale by providing personalized care, transforming data into patient insights, enabling virtual care and care team collaboration, optimizing treatment by combining IoT and analytics, and promoting data interoperability.” Oh, shocking. But at least, it’s for our own good!

A New Creative Way to Promote Surveillance and the IoT
Something is telling me, the nursing home industry might be on its way out. There is this term, “ageing in place,” which is zombie speak for an elder not being shipped to a nursing home. Now, personally, I am not a fan of nursing homes. Being born and raised in the “old world,” I believe that children have the duty to take care of aging parents, it makes for a saner world. That is what believe for myself.

But when the WEF promotes intergenerational living, I don’t think they come from the same place that I do! And besides, making up fancy terms for living together as a family is like re-inventing trees and bees! They are trying to take ownership of something that is not theirs.

None the less, in the words of our kindly chaperons at the WEF, “ageing in place refers to the desire to be independent in a residence of one’s choice and participate in the community. Meaningful social contact and well-being are essential components of ageing in place. Instead of segregating people into communities based on age (like retirement communities), intergenerational living can provide companionship and purpose for older adults.” Awwwwwww!

Living together as a family in a large enough home can be very beautiful and spiritually rich — but in this case, they are not coming from beauty. They are saying, “Peasants, you are taking up too much space. Squeeze!”

Are they offering anything good to help the elders? No. They are just using “ageing” as a new buzzword to push their old transhumanist tricks:

Proactively monitor health and detect potential changes — This approach helps address issues before they become medical emergencies. According to research conducted by Bern University and published in Nature, using connected sensing devices to remotely monitor motion, activities, and moving speed is a promising way to help transition healthcare from a reactive to a proactive, precision medicine-oriented approach.
Ensure reliable access to telehealth — As of December 2022, only 62% of rural areas in China had internet access, according to Statista. Yet 37.5% of China’s older population live in rural areas, according to the World Bank. To support the elderly in these communities, there should be stable, low-cost internet access to provide telehealth services. The costs can be defrayed through the government and/or by providing basic internet service.
Incentivize home improvements and technology investments — To support loved ones ageing with privacy and dignity, either independently or with loved ones.
Interestingly, the media and the “industry experts” are highlighting the staffing shortages and the profitability issues in the nursing home industry, and it seems to me that there is an invisible hand that is pushing to replace the nursing homes of the past with WEF’s ‘smart homes’ and the IoT. Time will tell!

In the meanwhile, the elders are clearly begging to be surveilled at home (not), and therefore, for their own good, we need smart homes, motion sensors spying on people’s hand movements and bathroom habits, wearable devices, literal cameras in the bedroom, and other fun things. Yay, new normal and new profit opportunities, yay!

And just the like Soviet state asked the young ones to brainwash their older family members into the establishment talking points of the day, we are asked to betray our elders and convince them to accept all this for our “convenience” of monitoring them. Today, we are asked to be the enables of the rapey panopticon “for everyone’s convenience and safety” — and of course, in no time, we’ll be next!