Emergent anecdotal definitions of Senexism: version 4
As of 6/1/2024
Blog post by Roger Malina and Tina Qin
The term “Senexist’ and “Senexism” were coined by Fred Turner, Robert Stern and Roger F. Malina. They auto-poetate the non-center of emergence studies at UTDallas. They established an Emergence Observatory and noticed that:
There will soon be 1 million people over 100 years old, that are establishing a reborn “Republic of Letters”, of which the emergence non-center could be a precursor.
So we define “Senexism” as an emerging culture that has never existed in human history where human animals over ~100 are more numerous than human animals under ~10 years old.
We have no idea of the cultural revolutions this might enable auto-poetically.
One idea is to start compiling lists of good and bad things that Senexism might enable.
Another is to imagine an iterative emergence of a new culture, rather than a revolution.
Finally, the emerging field of biogeodynamics might be pertinent:
Biogeodynamics focuses on how evolution of the planetary interiors, surface, atmosphere, ocean, climate, and life interact and interrelate. The analogy to human animal behavior is inescapable.
Tina Qin concludes:
I am impressed by the word “senexism” you coined. It looks so natural and makes great sense. Google translate is able to translate it and even ChatGPT seems to know how to interpret it. Well, indeed, this overwhelming emergence of new phenomena is coming and coming soon all over the world. Although ageism has also drawn attention and debates in China, Japan and other Asian counties for a few decades, it becomes a big concern only in recent years.
Dr Tina Qin adds that ChatGpt learns fast, each time you check it, it adds newer content to the answer that often self contradicts.
Definition of “Senexism” by ChatGpt
Senexism is a term that is not widely recognized in many standard dictionaries. However, it generally refers to prejudice or discrimination against older people. This term is derived from “senex,” the Latin word for old man. It is similar in meaning to “ageism,” but specifically focuses on biases against the elderly.
Senexism refers to a form of discrimination and prejudice specifically targeted towards elderly individuals. The term is derived from the Latin word “senex,” meaning “old man” or “elder.”
Senexism encompasses negative attitudes, stereotypes, and discriminatory practices against older people, often leading to their marginalization and mistreatment in various aspects of society.
Key Aspects of Senexism accord to AI: (as of May 2024)
- Stereotyping:
- Beliefs that elderly people are inherently frail, forgetful, or resistant to new technologies and changes.
- Discrimination:
- Practices that unfairly disadvantage older adults, such as in hiring and employment, where older workers may be overlooked in favor of younger candidates regardless of qualifications.
- Marginalization:
- Social exclusion where older people are not given the same opportunities to participate in social, economic, and cultural activities.
- Healthcare:
- Ageist attitudes in healthcare can lead to under-treatment or misdiagnosis of elderly patients, as their health complaints might be dismissed as simply due to aging.
Senexism, therefore, highlights the specific challenges and biases that older adults face, advocating for greater awareness and changes in societal attitudes to ensure that elderly individuals are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.
AI is wrong as it often is.
This is AI thinking is problematic. These associations with senexism are mostly negative and undervalue the benefits of experience. Perhaps a better term will be:
Mavinist: someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field and is of any age.
Synonyms:ace, adept, champion, genius, hotshot, maven, sensation, star, superhero, superstar, virtuoso, whiz, whizz, wiz, wizard
A maven is an expert. A Yiddish word, deriving from the modern Hebrew conjugation of the verb “lehavin” in its 3rd person singular in the present tense (masculin) – “mevin” (מֵבִין) – which means “to understand, to comprehend”.
Perhaps mavinism: having good knowledge or understanding of a subject.
Some A.I. is mavinist but never imaginist since AI is incompatible with imagination.
Associated concepts:
Senexthesia: Experienced people are able to make connections that less experienced people don’t notice. A form of desirable apophenia.
Senexbation: Some people become so convinced they are right after much experience, and don’t know how to apply Bonnie Pittman;s “Do something new” method ( https://www.dosomethingnew.org/ ) to explain phenomena until then unexplained.
Mavinator : someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field but exibits Apophenia . To be explicit:
Apophenia (/æpoʊˈfiːniə/) is the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.[1]
The term (German: Apophänie from the Greek verb ἀποφαίνειν (apophaínein)) was coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in his 1958 publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia.[2] He defined it as “unmotivated seeing of connections [accompanied by] a specific feeling of abnormal meaningfulness”.[3][4] He described the early stages of delusional thought as self-referential over-interpretations of actual sensory perceptions, as opposed to hallucinations.[1][5] Apophenia has also come to describe a human propensity to unreasonably seek definite patterns in random information, such as can occur in gambling.[4]
So let’s conclude: We define “Senexism’, for now, as an emerging culture that has never existed in human history: people over 100 are more numerous than people under 10 years old; this emerging culture exhibits frequent mavinism.