- cross-posted to:
- futurology@futurology.today
- cross-posted to:
- futurology@futurology.today
- Boomers are having their last dance in charge.
- Gen X leaders are stepping up to replace the last of them.
- Younger leaders are taking charge of politics and corporate giants such as Boeing, HSBC, and Costco.
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Every generation has plenty of those - no worries!
Yeah, they’re called “capitalists.”
As a Gen Xer I’m heartened to see Gen Z stepping up to literally save the world. Seeing the swell in support for Harris and in voter registration numbers, I for once am feeling hopeful. I hope they can accomplish what the forgotten generation couldn’t.
Gen Z reporting in. Above comment’s point was not to generalize an entire demographic as ‘doing good’. & it was a good one. Don’t assume that of us either.
Judging entire groups of people as a monolith is always bad. I’ll add ‘good’ is subjective of an individual’s values. Expect future generations to mock us for what we believe acceptable.
Expect future generations to mock us for what we believe acceptable.
I sure hope so. If future generations aren’t making fun of me for how backwards I am then we’re not progressing.
I’ll caveat that not all changes are ‘good’ changes too. The future generations might not value the things we hold dear, like the jury trial. One day maybe they’ll sadly see that as us wasting ordinary people’s time.
People in the future are not automatically our betters, but our equals, (hopefully) armed with the knowledge of our failings and armed with that of our successes.
I feel like the judge cannon stuff is a very good example of why jury trials are a thing. Corrupt judges are real yo
Coming from a completely legal tradition: Jury trials are scary. Jurors can’t be nailed to the cross for perversion of justice, there’s no accountability. Also any more serious cases are not tried by judges, but panels of judges, often including lay judges.
Very good point, and I did not intend to make an argument about generations being different. Generations indeed consist wholly of individuals with their own opinions. On an individual level, age is no better an indicator of personality than your zodiac sign.
In my comment I just wanted to express that, after a long period of dread, I am feeling more hopeful after seeing so many members of the young generation getting engaged and making a difference where I personally feel we failed.
It was also meant to express appreciation and gratitude to those who are getting involved and as encouragement to those who are yet to do so.
Just remember there was leaded gasoline everywhere before 1995, and av-gas mostly still is
Gen Z unfortunately seems to have stepped back on the gender equality front. I hope it shifts back but self-identified feminists are down compared to millenials and misogyny is up. I’d be happy to attribute most of that to economic stress though.
us Xers
Already I see a lot more self awareness versus the boomers, so it looks like a net positive in any event
Not really, you also see a lot of boomers calling out other boomers.
Yeah, people act like there aren’t progressives and conservatives in each generation. My retired Boomer parents still think a lot of bigoted and reactionary old people are the reason we can’t have nice things. My Silent Generation grandparents were happy to label Republicans as mostly irredeemably evil even when the political zeitgeist favored treating them as intellectual adversaries with earnest beliefs about the best ways to run society for the good of everyone.
And on the other end, the proud boys were a Gen Z / Millennial phenomenon.
It’s true that people tend to become more set in their ways as they get older. OTOH, that sometimes means that the militant socialist just gets grumpy and complains instead of remaining a hopeful activist. It doesn’t always mean that people start becoming right-wing and conservative.
Yeah. X/Mil cusper here. The elder Gen X are more like Boomers than anything, but have more anger and technical acumen.
If I’m not mistaken gen X is the first generation to become more progressive as it ages
Def. I’ve only gone harder left/prog/anti-capitalist as I grew older.
I didn’t change but the parties shifted for me.
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saaaaame…55 and left as hell
Same. Grew up in a conservative household and shared many of the same views when I was younger. But the more the conservatives have shifted towards hating “the other” the more I’ve realized that was always what they, and their policies, were. They’re just not subtle about it now.
If you’re so confident in your world view, you shouldn’t be afraid of it being challenged, whether by speech, or people being free to be who they are, want to be, or were born into. If it doesn’t harm you, why should you care?
The fact that neo Nazis align themselves with the GOP, Trump,and MAGA, should tell you all you need to know. I’ve never donated to a Democrat’s campaign… Until today.
As a Gen Xer, I wish that was true, but in terms of US voting patterns, it isn’t
Dang, you’re right, it’s the millennials that are changing that trend!
I hope it continues into the Millennials’ later years, but I’m feeling cynical about that…
I know I am. I quite literal don’t recognize my political leanings of 10 years ago.
This is such a gen Xer thing to say.
Whatever
Ok Boomer
I guess my joke about the cynicism of genx is getting missed.
We prefer the term “hating on your X”
That is true of every generation. Call it a human flaw.
Tucker Carlson.
Considering the nature of linear time, I dont know what the alternative could be.
Biden is actually the first and only president from “The Silent Generation”
(Side note: Trump, Dubya, and Bubba were all born in 1946)
Within two months and one week of each other.
Huh, that’s interesting.
You know how in school they say “one day one of you will be president.” Well for Bidens generation all of them were wrong except his teacher
It’s also possible that Gen X will be skipped over the way the Silent Generation was skipped.
Kamala is the youngest possible Boomer (born in 1964). If she wins and serves 2 terms she’ll be out in 2032. At that point Gen X will be between 52 and 67. People might want a candidate younger than that.
I damn well hope so. As an elderly old man, I’m exhausted seeing technically illiterate and wildly socially backwards old men in charge of most parts of our political apparatus.
Time for people who know the internet isn’t made of fucking tubes. Or that climate change is on top of us, in the process of burning/melting those things we need in order to live.
The funny thing is that the “tubes” metaphor isn’t actually all that bad. Whoever suggested that metaphor to Ted Stephens knew what they were talking about. But, he didn’t actually understand what they were saying, so he looked like an idiot when he tried to use the metaphor to explain why an email was delayed.
Granted. I’m one of the lucky such gen X’ers whose parents were prescient and wealthy enough in the early 80s to get me a computer (Apple ][). As such, I’m mystified dealing with people much younger than me who are oddly proud of being technically illiterate… though to be fair it’s been a lot of users that I supported during my days as an IT drone, and many of those were real estate bros. Ugh.
I would vote for a vampire, mummy, or other deathless creature.
Dracula was pretty cool…
We could all die in some catastrophic event
God I hope so.
The great leveling🤙
Took way too long. Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out.
I’m fully in support of Kamala, but she’s not Gen X. Close, but no cigar. She was born in 1964.
She’s Generation Jones. So am I (b. 1963)
Damn, they even have her picture on the page 😆
Generation Jones is noted for coming of age after a huge swath of their older siblings in the earlier portion of the Baby Boomer population; thus, many note that there was a paucity of resources and privileges available to them that were seemingly abundant to older Boomers. Therefore, there is a certain level of bitterness and “jonesing” for the level of doting and affluence granted to older Boomers but denied to them
This reminds me of the Xennial generation that fell between X and Millennial. This also sort of shows how little we can really actually equate from these 20+ year generational spans. Really I am just happy she’s not old enough to collect SSI yet.
Hard cutoff dates for generations has always been a stupid concept. Imagine believing that an Xer born in 1980 has more in common with an Xer from '65 than a millennial from '82.
Family context also plays a role. My wife and I are “officially” Xennials, born a year apart in the late 70s. I have a brother seven years older than me, and she was the first born. I skew way more Gen X than she does, to the point where she doesn’t see any point in describing herself as anything other than a Millennial.
Yeah, I was born in 84 but I identify pop culture wise much closer to my step brothers that are 1.5 and 3.5 years older as Xennails than I would my millennial counterparts.
Named generations is a stupid concept in general. It’s vaguely useful as a shorthand to talk about people’s life experiences based on when they were born and how old they are now. But, it’s mostly like astrology, saying that people born under a certain sign behave a certain way.
I turn 40 in September. I don’t like it!
I can’t tell if she looks young for her age, or if she looks super young compared to everyone else on stage wirh her
Probably a combination of three things. First hate ages you terribly, example Laura Loomer, Alex Jones. Second she is a child compared to Biden/Trump. And third and finally as clichè as it is black dont crack
Also, and this is a biggie, she didn’t have kids. Kids harvest your life force in order to grow.
Preach it sista!
The dates for these generations are not set in stone. Lots of organizations use 1965 to 1980 but the US SSA uses 1965 as the start.
People born around the transition points are going to have more in common with each other than with people born earlier in the date range. Especially when you consider families having kids a few years apart but each is apparently a different “generation”.
The median age of the senate is 65. The article is just cherry picking.
As a member of Generation X, I would say that it’s not going to be much better.
Just look at, say, Elon Musk as an example of the kind of people from my generation who get to positions of influence.
Most GenX are the product of the Neoliberal era, so have interiorized the whole “lookout for numero uno” idea of how to be in society and whilst commonly aware of things like Climate Change, they’re usually unwilling to inconvenience themselves for the sake of fighting against it, quite the contrary even (just look at how well SUVs sell), and similarly when it comes to Consumerism, they seem to be the most prone to wasteful consumption (the kind of people who replace their mobile phones every year or two).
In summary, Gen X generally are more well informed than Boomers but even less principled than them.
Gen X here, too.
DeSantis is younger than me.
That’s all I’m going to say. Gooooooooooo Millennials and Gen Z. PLEASE.
I was born right on the border of Millennial and Gen X. Tory leader Rishi Sunak was younger than me.
Generation really doesn’t matter. Greedy cunts rise to the top and always will.
Today’s horrible influencers are tomorrows horrible leaders.
Once they hit our age they’re be equally shit. The only thing that makes us endearing is that we are a forgotten generation for the most part. No power. No numbers. But fuck me have we got influence.
It’s almost like these generational names aren’t a monolith and have been divided up arbitrarily!
You could just as well replace these names of the generations with the astrological signs of the zodiac, that would be just as meaningful. It’s bullshit.
I’m from the grashopper generation.
Honestly, given the money Gen X has, Gen Z would mostly probably do the same.
While some of our actions can be directed by principle, mostly it’s just shrinking income.
I wish we could raise wages AND use them to embrace Buy It For Life items, all while subsidizing public transportation etc etc.
But now it’s lack of money that holds Gen Z back, not principles, in my opinion.
Gen z understands that the rich are the cause of their poverty, not immigrants or libs or other poor people. That’s a big step in directing action in the right direction.
Fair, though I wonder how much of it is real change and how much is our information bubble. Hopefully mostly the former, but I absolutely do hear all those “fuck immigrants” and “I’m to blame, I just gotta work harder” attitudes around.
Yeah… I guess it’s more like, millennials were the first generation to have a majority get it, and Gen z is even better about getting it… But it’s still not 100%
Probably a product more of age than of generational specificity.
You get used to your comforts, you probably have investments, you’re consumed by trying to get ahead enough so that you don’t have to die at your job, just in a nursing home what takes all of your money.
Gen X myself, and maybe an outlier, but I’ve probably become more radical as I’ve aged rather than the other way around. I’ve been stuck being poor for decades before finally “making it”, and that has really driven home the awareness of how fragile it all is. That, and just general omnivorous reading that includes a lot of depressing scientific literature regarding climate change. It’s terrifying.
I vote for the left (I would have happily voted for Sanders), support local measures and politicians that lean towards social policy and move towards things like green power, etc.
So yeah…not necessarily a thing you can just pin on a generation, though each generation will have some stronger proclivities than others in certain areas. The millennials will have to watch out, they’re next to fall for circling the wagons to protect whatever they might have, hate on their gen’s billion- or trillionaires.
We won’t be next because no one will be. Prove me wrong. Good fucking luck. You won’t acknowledge what must be done.
I was born in the 1990s and teenage me thought that the future would be awesome because people like me would be in power.
By now, people my age and younger have reported back, become politicians, celebrities, journalists or otherwise people with more power than me, and said “nah, we are pretty much the same as our parents were, some of us are awesome and some horrible”.
The type of people who seek power probably won’t change generation to generation… But the voters are changing rapidly as boomers die and millennials/zoomers replace them (far more progressive overall)… The voters will force the change, not the small percent that seek their own glory (ie the list you have there)
Millennials will become the largest voting bloc, and Gen Z tends to follow their lead. I predict the next decade is going to see some massive changes in governments.
The movement we see in the right, the coalition of ultra capitalists, nationalists, and evangelicals is the death throes of the GOP as we know it if they’re not successful in seizing power in the way they’re trying right now.
This. I was born in the 50s and we thought the same thing in our teen years with the same outcome.
Elon Musk as an example of the kind of people from my generation
Elon’s an Afrikkkaner fratbro social media junky with $200B to his name. That’s just not the lived experience of most Americans.
Most GenX are the product of the Neoliberal era
They’re nostalgic for the 90s, because it was a time of relative abundance. They’re not all Chicago Economics School trade globalists with a hard on for abolishing the minimum wage and privatizing social security, because none of them stand to benefit from any of that shit.
they’re usually unwilling to inconvenience themselves for the sake of fighting against it
You’ve got a selection bias. The GenXers who fought the fiercest got crushed the hardest. Prisons are choke full of social revolutionaries who got swept up in the 90s/00s Law and Order era. Hospital wards are full of GenXers pumped full of opioids to treat work-injuries and heavy metal poisoning. Morgues are full of GenXers who died in the service sector job filling lunch orders during COVID or were wiped out in the AIDS epidemic before it was treatable.
Losing doesn’t mean you weren’t fighting. It just means you were outnumbered, outspent, and outmaneuvered. For every Kamala Harris or Ron DeSantis who climbed up through the bowels of the system to live in its head, there are thousands who got crushed under its feet.
Gen X generally are more well informed than Boomers but even less principled
The folks you’re seeing are simply the ones that made themselves useful to the ruling class. One thing the GenX crowd was right about - the Revolution wasn’t televised. It was a war fought and lost in the back alleys and the boiler rooms and the darkest cells of solitary confinement. If the GenX capitalist class is looking extra cynical, that may be thanks to all of their relatives and neighbors they had to stack up like cordwood to reach these heights.
Whilst I did not live in the US, I did live in 4 countries in Europe (having got involved in politics in 2 of them) and from what I’ve seen those GenXers who fought for a better World are not the majority, not even close.
As somebody in that cohort and hence having moved along with it over the years through school and work, the general impression I got over time is one of political apathy and consumerist self indulgence.
(Certainly I was generally the odd one out in having strong political beliefs and it’s funny that even now in the political party I’m involved in, in my local area only a handful of active members are from my generation, whilst most are from the older generation and the second largest group are from the younger generation)
It really wasn’t much of a fighting generation to begin with back at their teenage and young adult years (just compare it to the much more recent Climate movements of the young) and there was a lot of apathy towards the ones amongst them who were (the pinnacle in the US was maybe Occupy Wall Street, which was violently suppressed by Obama - the very same who did the shoving of trillions towards Finance in the first place - and notice how still today so many of my generation think he was a great President).
I agree with you on the outmanouvered point, though that was a lot easier to do because the will was there for a few, not for the many, so when the few got suppressed the many wouldn’t lift a finger and often even agreed that those “making waves” should be stopped.
Even if Harris were Gen X, this would be premature.
…yeah, they’re going to jump from five baby boomers straight to millennials next change of the guard, and like, whatever, man: we acclimated to disenfranchisement thirty years ago…
At least you got to enjoy coffee and cigarettes
checking the average age of the House, the Senate, and the Gubernatorial slate
Awww…
Kamala was born in the last year of what is considered boomer, but still a step forward to Biden’s silent generation
At least she’s under the retirement age!!!
Retirement age is 55. She is 59.
I think it’s like 65 or 70 in the US.
Holy fuck it’s 67. We’re fucked
You should have known this at 13. Oh, public education. 🤦♂️
When I was 13 the retirement age was not 67 bud
The full retirement age in the United States varies depending on the year of birth:
- For people born in 1960 or later, the full retirement age is 67.
- For those born between 1943 and 1954, the full retirement age is 66.
- For those born between 1955 and 1959, the full retirement age gradually increases from 66 and 2 months to 66 and 10 months.
However, individuals can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62, though benefits will be reduced for early retirement. Conversely, delaying retirement beyond the full retirement age can increase benefits until age 70.
If you were taught retirement age was 55 when you were 13 you must already be retired or thought you were very close to retirement. It hasn’t been 55 since the early 80s.
Retirement for her is 67.
Generational cohorts care more about events that shaped you in life rather than birth year
Generational cohorts are all just made up nonsense. It just exists to distract the working class from what we have in common with each other and what separates us from the working class. I, a millennial, have much more in common with a working class baby boomer, than I do with a rich and powerful millennial.
Stop encouraging these artificial divides. Build solidarity across the working class of all ages. And stop playing into the media’s narratives.
Preach. So tired of this bullshit “generation warfare”.
I think you’re conflating two different things. There are a variety of social factors that affect age cohorts differently, and a lot of that comes down to the experience during formative years. We are a product of our environment in many ways, and it’s not nonsense to study and opine on these shared experiences and how they shape us. Class solidarity is an entirely different subject. You likely do have more in common with your social class across generations, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have anything in common with wealthy millennials. I wouldn’t let lazy journalism own the concept of generations itself.
The lived experience of people differs as much, or more, within age cohorts, as it does between age cohorts. They are lazy and hasty generalisations, with very little benefit outside of garbage op-eds and zombie statistics.
Do you often get your personal beliefs from garbage op-eds?
If you would like to learn about generational cohorts from a higher quality source, I recommend The Fourth Turning, a rather prophetic book on generations.
Oh, great, let’s swap garbage op-ed’s for garbage airport pop-science books. Why not recommend Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, next? Or maybe Rich Dad, Poor Dad?
Some lovely reviews about The Fourth Turning:
many academic historians dismiss the book as about as scientific as astrology
cyclical theories tend to end up in the Sargasso Sea of pseudoscience, circling endlessly (what else?). *The Fourth Turning is no exception.
their predictions about the American future turn out to be as vague as those of fortune cookies
as woolly as a newspaper horoscope
I haven’t read those books, so I don’t have an opinion on them. You haven’t read The Fourth Turning, so maybe you shouldn’t be so set on your opinion of the book.
I’ll just wait for the If Books Could Kill episode, I think.
Yep, it’s similar to Astrology where certain psychological characteristics are attributed to the signs of the zodiac.
Glad the boomers are on the way out. As a Gen X’er, not sure we care enough to take charge.
It’s cool you’ll get like four years then we millennials will take over.
Please be kind. We’re exhausted and broken.
Watching helplessly for 40 or 50 years while your parents’ generation destroys everything will do that
and it hurts now to get out of bed.
And to be in bed
You guys are ok with us. Z seems cool too
Millennials seem cool. They called bullshit on a lot of stuff that X just shrugged at and tried to slack our way around. I don’t usually know what Z is saying but they seem to at least have moved in a less overtly toxic direction, and they put weak but real taboos on stuff like bullying that no prior generation did.
It’s all good. I’m gonna go let myself into the empty house and make a PB&J now.
Don’t know about you, but I’m out here slackin’ away.
As an aging millennial, I am surprised by how the process of time works.
Like you spend your life acquiring skills and using your knowledge in an ever expanding cornucopia of experiences.
Then followed by a gradual decline to be left only with your memories of who you once were. But then you realize you were only a small part of the existence of others, and ultimately the universe. Yep, the thought of faculties diminishing over time is enough to put the one into an extensional crisis.
Yup. This is a wise time in your life to start your estate planning, medical directives, etc. Find yourself a good lawyer for this. I’m sure the cost varies by location and practice, but mine was only about $1,500 US.
I’m just trying to exist in peace. That already feels like an impossibility.
Gen X is too small to matter. Millennials are stepping up and will compete with Boomers for a little while until they finally take over. Thing about Millennials though is that it is a very K shaped generation. About half have had decent success and are conservative/liberal and the other half have been absolutely crushed so it’s kind of a mixed bag and as long as the Boomers have any influence not much is likely to change. GenZ is bigger than Millennials though and should be right behind them. They are very different and much more politically radical, on both the left and right. Things are likely to change with them.
One thing I’m looking forward to with millennial leadership is just people that finally fully understand the power of the internet, big data and what truly distinguishes the information age. If you didn’t grow up with it, it’s hard to grapple with just how much it truly upended … fucking everything. They mostly still don’t understand that a computer can basically read their mind now, just through indirect data gathering and comparing them to all of the other people. We all get that at a more intuitive level, we’ve spent too long around these algorithms and seas of semi-anonymous others.
Of course we’ll be in some quantum AI room-temp-superconductor age by then, so, y’know how it goes. But we should at least have a better handle on the information age problems, so that’ll be nice.
But we should at least have a better handle on the information age problems, so that’ll be nice.
Technology keeps creating new problems. The problems don’t stay still and wait to be fixed.
Not to be contrary, but the problems aren’t technology’s fault. That’s all on us.
It’s almost like generational distinction is meaningless and it’s actually about class.
And life stages
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I’m worried about the Alphas and younger Zs who weren’t paying attention until after Covid. The news doesn’t talk about Trump’s laundry list of controversies or extremism. They just yell about the economy and the border and point at Biden.
As usual, they make rationalists look alarmist.
There’s apparently 65.2 million Gen Xers vs 75 million millenials. Smaller, but “too small to matter” seems like a really weird take.
Spoken just like the boomers. Heads up your own asses just like them.
65 million X compared to 72 millennial. Wow. Carry on.
Whatever.
Are you ok
Are you?
I’m absolutely spiffing, thanks for asking! Yourself?
Adequate.
Fair to middling?
Sufficient to acceptable. Not good—but not bad! I’m… fine.
I am not, but I think that’s unrelated. Mostly. Or not at all.
In an existential sense?
Boomers? Biden wasn’t even a Boomer!
Kamala was born in 64. She’s a boomer. Also, GTFO with Generation Jones. She’s a boomer. X-ers are those who came after the pill became omnipresent after the mid 60s. I am one of those (born in 77). We are relatively few in numbers in comparison to the boomers. Because of the pill. Also GTFO with Generation Jones. She’s a boomer.
Trump and Biden also aren’t boomers. They predate the boomers. They were born during or shortly after WW2. That’s usually called the silent generation. Trump being part of the silent generation is of course ridiculous. But he’s the exception of the rule, I guess. But both are born very late in that generation, so they are its last remnants I guess. Soon they will all be gone.
Boomers is short for Baby Boomers which were literally the babies born after WW2 vets came home and had families. I don’t know why your misinformed comment has so many upvotes
What’s the fact you’re objecting to? The only thing wrong is Trump as a Silent as he’s born in the very first year of the Boomers. Everything else is following the common definitions.
You might be right there. I’m German. And many a man did come back later, after the war, here. A lot of refugees were forcefully relocated from what is today Poland. Also a lot of POWs came back long after the war was over. So the baby boom was a bit delayed over here.
Then again, you’re a computer scientist, not an historian, and therefore excusable :p
It all depends on whether you start counting from 0 or 1!
We are relatively few in numbers in comparison to the boomers
That’s not true. The birth rate dropped slightly from the low 20s per 1000 in the 40s to the mid-60s, then dropped to the high teens in the Gen X era. Relatively few in numbers implies that there were twice as many boomers or something. The reality is that there were about 75 million baby boomers births, and about 65 million Gen X.
Trump is a boomer (1946, same year as Clinton and Bush), Biden is a “silent generation” guy, born before the end of WWII. He’s actually the first (and presumably last) Silent Generation president. The ones before him were all boomers or “greatest” generation.
While those facts might not be wrong in your neck of the woods, they are at least very, very US centric. That is of course ok, as we are talking about the US candidates here. But generally, keep in mind that the world is way bigger than the US. You make up a whole of 4% of the world’s population. And those numbers all vary from country to country.
The article and the discussion was US-centric. I’m aware things are different outside the US. I don’t live in the US. I’m merely pointing out that for an American to think that the baby boom was some kind of massive shift in population that means the number of boomers dwarfs any other generation is wrong.
Warm bodies outnumber the dead, news at 11.
you’d think so, but boomers had it so good they hardly ever die. the amount of stress they left the newer generations while not giving a fuck themselves made them likely to outlast some millennials let alone xers.
I’ll take your comment at face value and see it as a comment on the theory that ‘there’s more people alive today than have ever lived’.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-living-outnumber-dead/
However that seems not to be true. The dead are more numerous. However they are unlikely to vote (unless the republicans find a way).
I do appreciate this clarification. Granted it wasn’t my intent, as I was more focused on modern history.
But hey, learn something new every day!
No I didn’t read that in your comment, but found it too interesting a tidbit not to share !
Kick the Boomers out!
