A Midlife Transition and the Spark of Curiosity
Andrew J. Scott’s exploration into longevity began with a significant midlife transition, a period marked by the desire for change and the profound loss of his parents. These events propelled him to reevaluate his life’s direction and become curious about new possibilities. “A midlife transition — wanting a change and losing my parents — helped me realise that I was ready to be curious about something else,” Andrew shares. This curiosity led him to rethink the traditional narratives surrounding ageing and to explore new intellectual territories.
The Role of Storytelling
Joe Coughlin from MIT stresses the necessity of creating and sharing new narratives, a sentiment that resonates deeply with Andrew. He emphasises the power of storytelling in influencing policy and intellectual discourse. “Sharing stories is so important,” Andrew shares. “In my latest book, I wanted to influence policymakers but ageing is the most human of trends, and I also wanted to make this book more personal. Every chapter, I wanted to write about the systems and how they needed to change, but what is the point unless the story is meaningful?”
Living Through the Change
Reflecting on his own experiences, Andrew notes the irony of living through the changes he once only discussed. “I agree. It is funny to be actually living it as well as talking about it,” he says. “It is funny to logically think about things and then have to emotionally go through them. The one that has recently got me was realising that next year I will be able to get a free Oyster pass in London (free to all over 60s). I have to say that triggered all sorts of emotions in me.”
The Essence of Curiosity
Andrew delves into the essence of curiosity and its impact on his life and career. “If you define curiosity as picking up a thread and seeing where it goes, then that has been important to me. But I am not curious about everything. There are lots of things that I am completely not curious about,” he admits. “For example, thinking about my free underground pass, how does the underground system work? I just assume it does, and off I go (he laughs). But I do get a little obsessed with some threads, and for me, I like systems. So, I like to explore a thread around systems and start to think, where can this thread lead to? And if it leads to something else, I will want to find out how the two things are connected and try to build up a picture. I guess that is how my curiosity works.”
This curiosity has significantly shaped Andrew’s career, steering him towards complex issues like macroeconomics and longevity. “It has definitely shaped my career. I started off being interested in macroeconomics, and now I am obsessed with longevity and how that affects everything in all our lives.”
“There was a slide which said.....we are living longer and we are living healthier for longer....and I asked myself, how are we turning this into such bad news?”
The Longevity Revelation
Andrew recounts a pivotal moment that shifted his perspective on ageing. “I used to give a lecture on the ageing society, and I would give it to students at LSE 4 or 5 times a year. It was pretty miserable. Projections about more old people, old people being a problem, etc. I would go through this again and again, and after a time, I found it a very boring lecture. It was what I called spreadsheet mentality, projecting trends. And then there was a slide, which I can so vividly remember, which said, ‘we are living longer and we are living healthier for longer.’ I thought that sounds like really good news, and I asked myself, how are we turning this into such bad news?”
This realisation marked the beginning of Andrew’s exploration into the positive aspects of longevity. “This was about 15 years ago. I wanted to do something different; I was bored of saying the same old negative story. My kids were growing up and leaving home, and I just wanted to do something different. My mother and father had died, and there was a whole load of things that came together that made me think, let’s do something different.”
The Birth of “The 100-Year Life”
Inspired by these insights, Andrew co-authored “The 100-Year Life” with Lynda Gratton. The book’s success took him by surprise. “I was totally surprised by it. You always hope, but what was wonderful was that the phrase ‘100-year life’ started to take on a life of its own. It was strange, as I had spent my life on fiscal policy, and then suddenly everyone was talking about the book, and it was exciting. And I thought, now is the right time for a change. It was a combination of discovering who I was as well as recognising the need to do something different.”
Learning from the Next Generation
Andrew reflects on how his children have influenced his understanding of the changing world. “I could see that my son was doing things so differently from me when I was at that age, and I started to think about how we needed new transitions in our lives. I started thinking about changes, and it made me think about the importance of reevaluating the three stages of life and seeing that we need many more transitions in the 100-year life.”
“We need to be more curious than previous generations simply because we have more future and we don't want to be irrelevant and out of date.”
Embracing Curiosity in a Longer Life
Andrew emphasises the importance of curiosity in navigating a longer life. “With a longer life, we do have more time ahead of us. So, if we think about the things that people worry about in getting older, one of those is ill health, which I totally get. Investing in your health is incredibly important. People worry about running out of money, so investing in your finances is important. People worry about whether they can keep working, so we need to look at the skills we have to keep on working, but also to ask if the job we are doing is still right for us. People also worry about getting bored. You know that Churchill, when he died, said, ‘I am just bored with it.’ I think one of the key things is about avoiding getting bored.”
He continues, “If we are doing the same old things habitually, it makes it harder to become curious. If what you are doing keeps you so absorbed and keeps you happy and stimulated forever, then that is wonderful. But I think it isn’t about reinvention, but the need to keep adapting and readjusting so you don’t become bored or irrelevant is important. And this, of course, will change from person to person. I also do think that we need to be more curious than previous generations simply because we have more future and we don’t want to be irrelevant and out of date.”
Personal Impacts and Behavioural Changes
We discusses how his research has influenced his behaviour and interactions. “I think it has made me feel less inclined to give advice to my kids. They might not agree! Less advice, as they are living in a very different world and I need to learn from them too. I think it has given me the courage and the willpower to do new things. When I say new things, definitely professionally. And I also try and do new things in my personal life. Make new friends or keep up with old friends. To really make sure that I keep learning and adapting. Trying to mix things up, and some of that is really simple, such as if I walk from A to B every day, to try new routes. I don’t always do that; sometimes I just want the familiar, but I do try to mix things up. For me, longevity and the focus on remarkably different lifestyles are about doing the more obvious things.”
Quality of Life vs. Quantity
Addressing the difference between quantity and quality of life, Andrew shares unequivocally , “It has to be about quality. We already have these longer lives; we are just not making them high-quality enough due to health issues or social exclusion. And this is what we have to try and fix. But everyone has their own trade-off between quantity and quality. I think it is hard; if you fear getting older, it becomes harder to do things to help you give quality. And many of us have no choices, as we are living day by day. For those people, you can’t think beyond the day-to-day. But even someone like myself, who has the capacity to think ahead, it is hard to always make the right decisions and the right choices.”
"I don’t know what I want to be doing when I am 70, 80, or 90, but I know if I have more options, I will be happy."
Embracing Change and the Future
Andrew believes that the slow pace of change in society is understandable given the magnitude of the shift required. “Change is happening. It is just changing slowly. I don’t expect change to happen quickly when we have thousands of years of human history, centuries of society, and decades of personal experience that we have to overcome before real change can happen. It may take time, but the majority of employment growth is in people older than 50. We are seeing change happening, just slower than we would like it to. What needs to happen is that we need to stop talking about an ageing society and start talking about a longevity society.”
The Importance of Options
Finally, when asked for one piece of advice for living better, Andrew offers a thought-provoking suggestion. “Make a friend of your future self. Think about what you can give your future self. It would and should be options. I don’t know what I want to be doing when I am 70, 80, or 90, but I know if I have more options, I will be happy.”
Andrew’s reflections underscore the importance of curiosity and adaptability in navigating the extended life spans that many of us may experience. Through storytelling, a focus on quality, and the pursuit of lifelong learning, we can better prepare for the future and make the most of our 100-year lives.
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