Polytechnique insights A REVIEW BY INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE PARIS
Polytechnique insights A REVIEW BY INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE PARIS
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Home / Dossiers / Health and biotech / How the societal paradigms of ageing are set to change
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How the societal paradigms of ageing are set to change

3 episodes
  • 1
    Ageing as a disease: a new paradigm in medicine?
  • 2
    Politics and science: the upcoming end-of-life legislation
  • 3
    In a society of longevity, seniors are more than a “silver economy”
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Épisode 1/3

Ageing as a disease: a new paradigm in medicine?
On November 9th, 2022
4 min reading time
LEMAITRE Jean-Marc
Jean-Marc Lemaître
INSERM Research Director at Institut de Médecine régénératrice et Biothérapie de Montpellier (IRMB)

Key takeaways

  • Discovering a treatment that can add 3-5 years to the life of a patient suffering from a fatal disease increases the probability of another age-related disease later on.
  • We should therefore consider ageing as a disease in its own right, to avoid the illnesses associated with it.
  • Reprogramming ageing cells would make it possible to combat age-related diseases while increasing longevity.
  • By modifying senescent cells, it would also be possible to carry out a rejuvenation process.
  • In the future, molecules such as metformin could be prescribed to non-diseased humans to reverse all age-related diseases.
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Épisode 2/3

Politics and science: the upcoming end-of-life legislation
On July 5th, 2023
3 min reading time
DELFRAISSY_Jean-François
Jean-François Delfraissy
Chairman of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee

Key takeaways

  • A bill on ‘end-of-life ‘is due to be presented to the French government by September 21st
  • The issue is causing a stir in France, as it puts two major ethical principles into tension: individual freedom and solidarity.
  • Democratic dialogue between scientists on the one hand, and politicians and citizens on the other, is essential on these social issues.
  • The role of scientists is to shed light as neutrally as possible by providing accurate information, while the role of politicians is to make decisions.
  • The Comité consultatif national d'éthique (CCNE) is a kind of scientific compass for ethics, providing nuanced, well-argued opinions.
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Épisode 3/3

In a society of longevity, seniors are more than a “silver economy”
Anne-Marie Guillemard, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Université de Paris-Cité
On June 29th, 2022
4 min reading time
Anne-Marie Guillemard
Anne-Marie Guillemard
Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Université de Paris-Cité

Key takeaways

  • Many countries, particularly in the OECD, are concerned about their ageing populations - a view that emphasises costs and negative effects.
  • The longevity revolution offers society resources, skills, and capacities that we must learn to optimise, as Northern European countries have done.
  • Public age management policies aimed at companies can improve the employment rate of older people by offering them real and sustainable prospects.
  • For the elderly, the issue of autonomy calls for flexible responses, in the form of baskets of services and differentiated pathways according to needs, with an emphasis on prevention.
  • The policies of the past, segmented by age and freezing status, will be replaced by life cycle policies, organising modulations according to needs, possibilities, and aspirations.

Contributors

Anne-Marie Guillemard

Anne-Marie Guillemard

Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Université de Paris-Cité

Anne-Marie Guillemard is an emeritus member of the Centre for the Study of Social Movements (EHESS), a member of the editorial board of Ageing and Society and an expert member of the Conseil d'Orientation des Retraites. She is a recognised specialist in international comparisons of social protection, pension systems and employment. Among her many books, we can mention Allongement de la vie. What challenges? Quelles politiques? (ed., with E. Mascova, La Découverte, 2017) and Social Policies and Citizenship: The Changing Landscape (ed., with A. Evers, Oxford University Press, 2013).

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In a society of longevity, seniors are more than a “silver economy”

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