Looking Back at Looking to the Future: Revisiting the 1983 NATO Symposium on Aging and Technological Advances

Abstract

Purpose It is interesting to look back on the recommendations of our profession 40-years ago as the field of gerontechnology was in formation. In 1983, The NATO Special Programme Panel on Human Factors sponsored a symposium on Aging and Technological Advances at University of Southern California’s Andres Gerontology Center. Over 100 participants from 15 countries and from many scientific disciplines participated in the 5-day conference. The charge of the conference was to examine the promises and hazards of technological advances for the aged. Underlying the discussions was the value assumptions about the importance for the aged of independence, integration in society, interpersonal contact, opportunities to contribute to society, control over one’s environment, self-esteem, and the quality and length of life. The theme of good and bad consequences of technological advances from the perspective of impact on the aged emerged continually during the symposium and was reflected in numerous papers in the published volume. A second charge to participants was to recognize the diversity of the older populations under study. The impact of technological advances on the aged varies between the more and less developed regions, among nations, and between urban and rural areas within nations. Furthermore, discussions covered a wide age span from workers in their 40s and 50s to the very old.   Method The conference produced a 457-page volume and using systematic review we compare the major themes and predictions with where research and applications in gerontechnology have arrived today. We review the most interesting predictions and the most egregious.  Results and Discussion Employment trends, training and retraining, quality of work, policy, and implications for caregiving and services were addressed among other topics. In 1984 a major concern was the growing number of older persons who would be vulnerable to technological change. At the same time it was realized that the quality of life can be enhanced by technology. Overall, a major outcome focused on the intersection of two major changes in the world, the accelerating pace of technological advances and the accelerating growth of older populations. Conclusions and present observations of approaches to competence and dyscompetence provide a novel approach and perspective.