Bidibidibidi...what about grandpa?
Jun. 18th, 2010 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davywavyApparently, one of the many nicknames the French have for the British is "The Japanese of Europe". I'd expect that this is one of the politer nicknames, but it's interesting that they have picked up on a perceived similarity between us and the Nipponese; I don't know exactly why they came to this conclusion, but I suspect it's something to do with us both being odd, slightly alien and insular island cultures, with an agressive military history and an abiding love of tea.
There are other, perhaps more worrying, similarities to be drawn between Britain and Japan. Firstly there's our crushing levels of debt; Japan faced a similar economic position to us in the early 1990s and it took them a decade to work their way out of it, which doesn't fill me with gleeful hope for our own prospects. Secondly, there's our population demographics.
Like Japan, Britain has an aging population. In Japan, there are already more people over 60 than under 20 and that's a position we'll be in within the next decade or so unless people start getting jiggy with it pronto. What this means is more and more old people needing pensions and care, and fewer younger people to do the work - it's usually called the demographic time-bomb, for obvious reasons - and I find it interesting to compare how we and Japan are looking at tackling this problem. Britain from a socialised perspective, and Japan from a capitalist one.
In Britain there's been a lot of talk about guaranteed home care for the elderly and the like, usually by Gordon Brown in the final days of his premiership when he was manifestly aware that he wasn't going to be the one who had to find the money or pay the bills. What's pretty clear is that a system like that just isn't going to be affordable in the long term. With fewer people doing work, paying some of them to do home-care is going to become increasingly economically unviable and costs are going to go up as revenues decline. It's quite a worry.
On the other hand, the Japanese are coming at it from a different direction. Realising that old people are going to need help and there won't be the people there to do it or the money to pay them, they're researching personal service robots for the elderly.
This may be a big reason why I really like the Japanese.
The only downside to this approach is that as the robots will be built by Japanese geeks, the designs available will be Compliant schoolgirl with huge eyes, Stylised cute cat in a tutu, and Tentacled monstrosity from beyond. I expect they'll have 'special functions' which can only be accessed when you get all three together.
There are other, perhaps more worrying, similarities to be drawn between Britain and Japan. Firstly there's our crushing levels of debt; Japan faced a similar economic position to us in the early 1990s and it took them a decade to work their way out of it, which doesn't fill me with gleeful hope for our own prospects. Secondly, there's our population demographics.
Like Japan, Britain has an aging population. In Japan, there are already more people over 60 than under 20 and that's a position we'll be in within the next decade or so unless people start getting jiggy with it pronto. What this means is more and more old people needing pensions and care, and fewer younger people to do the work - it's usually called the demographic time-bomb, for obvious reasons - and I find it interesting to compare how we and Japan are looking at tackling this problem. Britain from a socialised perspective, and Japan from a capitalist one.
In Britain there's been a lot of talk about guaranteed home care for the elderly and the like, usually by Gordon Brown in the final days of his premiership when he was manifestly aware that he wasn't going to be the one who had to find the money or pay the bills. What's pretty clear is that a system like that just isn't going to be affordable in the long term. With fewer people doing work, paying some of them to do home-care is going to become increasingly economically unviable and costs are going to go up as revenues decline. It's quite a worry.
On the other hand, the Japanese are coming at it from a different direction. Realising that old people are going to need help and there won't be the people there to do it or the money to pay them, they're researching personal service robots for the elderly.
This may be a big reason why I really like the Japanese.
The only downside to this approach is that as the robots will be built by Japanese geeks, the designs available will be Compliant schoolgirl with huge eyes, Stylised cute cat in a tutu, and Tentacled monstrosity from beyond. I expect they'll have 'special functions' which can only be accessed when you get all three together.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 09:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 10:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 10:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 11:33 am (UTC)That said, I'm not sure that the development of atomic robots can really be considered a sound financial response to the problem of excessive old people.
How about a quarter-pound McSoylent with cheese?
no subject
Date: 2010-06-18 02:44 pm (UTC)http://www.cracked.com/article_16462_7-creepiest-real-life-robots.html
The first two in particular give me the chills.
JmC
1010101010 0010 10101
Demographic timebomb
Date: 2010-06-18 04:37 pm (UTC)- Getting jiggy with it (and the Japanese have certainly adopted pervy-ness that would make Benny Hill blush)
- Robotic labor-replacement (dare I say Labors?)
- Dare I mention immigration? There are actually plenty of people with the skills you need around the world, and to turn them away in favor of extreme of robotics suggests some serious cultural handicaps. Britain's struggle with migration has at least avoided that level of unquestioned institutional racism.
Re: Demographic timebomb
Date: 2010-06-18 06:17 pm (UTC)Re: Demographic timebomb
Date: 2010-06-19 09:41 pm (UTC)Re: Demographic timebomb
Date: 2010-06-21 02:15 pm (UTC)