It was sort of like parents talking about children, except here the children could read, had been parents and were wiser.
No one proposing to ask the elders what they might want or need. People pushing political and social agendas tangential to the core issue (surprise, surprise). Sweeping generalizations with no supporting information or, at best, anecdatum (always one datum). Par for the online course, but easier to see when you are the target demographic.
Old people, like old trees, become more gnarled and unique as time progresses. Some might say more interesting, some say less useful..check out Taoism for more insight there. Young people are more similar and they look to many others for stimulation because they themselves are...pretty boring. Old people are much more interesting in their own right, and each of their old friends pack ten times the interestingness of a stripling, so far fewer are needed. An old friend or acquaintance brings an order of magnitude or more adult experiences, a multidimensional nature, and the metadata of all the times and places in which they were lived. A young person (<30, maybe 40) is a scalar variable, and you’re lucky if it’s double precision.
From a heart standpoint, the older a person gets, the more transpersonal their emotions and energies, in preparation for their next journey. The truly aged are the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, but they aren’t around long enough for the young to realize it. Conditioned love is there, but is “emptying into white”. Best not to muck around too much if you are young, even if you are a family member.
Bring us grandkids, for exactly one day, or stay the hell away.
There's an asymmetry here, which is important to account for when designing environments.