Dear Mr Larsen,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I read many detective novels, and I consider old age a time to struggle for human decency - like any other.
With good wishes,Yours sincerely
Bertrand Russell.
Source: Dear Bertrand Russell, 1969.
More info.: https://russell-j.com/beginner/DBR3-01.HTM
* a brief comment:
With improvements in living standards and medical technology, the number of healthy elderly people is increasing. However, no matter how much life expectancy may extend, everyone will eventually face death. Even the most powerful figures --such as President Trump or President Xi Jinping-- cannot escape this reality.
That said, attitudes toward death vary greatly depending on the country, society, culture, and whether there is a dominant religion. Those who believe in a monotheistic God may gain peace of mind from the belief that they will go to heaven after death. Yet historically, conflicts with nonbelievers have often arisen, and nonbelievers have at times viewed them as hostile.
What about Bertrand Russell, who lived a long life? Around the age of ninety, in response to a question from a private citizen, Russell replied: "I consider old age a time to struggle for human decency."
Although there are large individual differences, as people age, their memory declines, their appearance deteriorates, and their ability to contribute to society diminishes. Russell continued to contribute to the world until nearly the age of ninety-eight, right before his death. At the same time, he fought against his own decline, striving to slow its progress as much as possible.
In the future, the number of people living to one hundred will rapidly increase, and as medical science advances, human life expectancy may be extended even further if humans become partially cyborg. Yet even if we could replace the (physical) brain with a "brand-new" one and install our memories -- backed up like computer data -- into an artificial brain, that would not mean the same human being continues to live on.
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