trajectory of growth and change that ultimately ends in death. While youth may be able to ignore that reality — at least up until they have successfully produced and raised offspring — the ever-approaching spectre of getting old and dying clearly must impact the shape of human development. Recently a scientist turned journalist published a book in which he argued quite convincingly that medical science will eventually be able to treat and prevent the aging process, which is no more than an illness like cancer (Steele, 2020). He thus concludes that there no inherent reason why our lives could not last indefinitely.
The interesting question to consider is this: What would our human development theories be like if people expected to live for an unknown amount of time, for example, for at least 200 years or so? Is the wisdom that we now hope to see — at least in those elderly who have had relatively healthy and growth-inducing lives — the result of trying to make meaning out of their ever-impending death? If one knew one could live indefinitely, would we, in the absence of aging and death, still be motivated to become wise? Put another way, would the time-table of the various theories you’ve studied simply become more stretched out — just as what seems to be happening even now with the stage of adolescence.
Or would a different outcome take place? Would extreme longevity stimulate the development of entirely new stages of life that we either cannot imagine or have not thought to imagine given that today’s span of life is seen as so inarguably limited? It is very difficult for humans to imagine their own future even in a life we each expect to experience (see Tierney, 2013, below). Understandably, then, it may be even more difficult to imagine a future that no one has ever experienced. But it may be well worth considering. Human development as we currently understand it could be just the tip of an iceberg for what humans might eventually be able to become.
For this final paper, as you think about the value of what you learned in the course, review your knowledge of human development and then see if you can use it to imagine what such theories would look like if we could live indefinitely or for 200 years or more. Follow this outline:
- First, explain very briefly what human development says about human behavior from birth to death. Then explain why this knowledge is valuable to you. You can review what you said in Module 1, but now, see if you can organize its value to you via Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system: understanding yourself as an individual, then in relation to your microsystem, exosystem, and macrosystem which may help you see more value than you did 15 weeks ago..
- Then, speculate about what you think theories of human development might look like if we were able to eliminate the aging process, We might die, but not because our bodies stopped functioning; physically we would remain no older than, say, 35 or 40. Would our psychological development also stop? Or would we still learn from experience (also school?) and, as a result, change or grow? If so, in what way? Whichever outcome you choose, what would the world be like? Would people be happier and more satisfied or less so? Would they be more or less productive? More or less sociable? More or less wise?
- Finally, let me know if you found this exercise useful in thinking about what you learned in this course.
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