The Tech We Need to Fight Workplace Ageism | Piyachart Phiromswad | TED

翻译人员: Savannah Hall 校对人员: suya f.

So by the year 2050,

因此，到2050年，

there are going to be more than two billion people

60岁以上的老年

who are older than 60 years old,

人将超过20亿，据估计，

and it has been estimated that around 80 percent

这20亿人口中约有80％

of these two billion people

的人

will live in low- and middle-income countries,

将生活在低收入 和中等收入国家，

which is roughly the developing countries.

大致是发展中国家。

It is currently a common belief, globally,

当前，全球普遍

that senior citizens should not work,

认为，老年人不应该工作，

do not need to work,

也不需要工作。

and therefore, there is no reason for companies to create jobs for them.

因此，公司没有理由 为他们创造就业机会。

I think this kind of thinking,

我认为，这种想法，

the thinking that senior employment is inessential,

即认为老年人 就业无关紧要，实际上

is actually the seed of a major problem that could impact a lot of lives,

是一个重大问题的根源，

especially the lives of people in developing countries.

尤其影响到发展中国家人民生活。

To explain to you why, let me show you a diagram,

为了向你解释原因， 让我给你看一张图。

and let me call this diagram a negative aging spiral.

让我把这张图 称为负衰老螺旋。

Imagine a 50-year-old living in a developing country.

想象一下，一个生活在 发展中国家的50岁孩子。

The chance that this person will work later on will be slim,

这个人以后工作的机会很小，

so this person is not going to invest in their skill,

所以这个人不会投资 于自己的技能，甚至

might not even invest in their health,

可能不会投资于自己的健康，

because there's no return from this investment.

因为这项投资没有回报。

Then, at the age of 60,

然后，在60岁时，

this person is going to stop working,

这个人将停止工作，

because it's a common thing to do in these countries.

因为这在这些国家很常见。

And then after that, many bad things could happen.

然后在那之后，可能会发生很多坏事。

For example, this person might not have enough savings,

例如，这个人可能 没有足够的储蓄，

or maybe no savings at all,

或者可能根本没有储蓄，

and now there’s no more employment opportunity.

现在没有更多的 就业机会了。

This person might feel lost, feel hopeless, feel lonely.

这个人可能会感到失落， 感到绝望，感到孤独。

This person might even feel

这个人甚至可能

like there's no purpose to continue living.

觉得没有 继续生活的目的。

So it seems like, for many people in developing countries,

因此，看来，对于发展中国家的许多人

there's going to be suffering through the process of population aging.

来说，人口老龄化 过程将带来痛苦。

Is there anything we can do differently?

我们可以做些不同的事情吗？

For me, as an economist

对我来说，作为一名多年来 一直在研究人口老龄化这个问题，

who has been working on this topic of population aging,

尤其是在发展中国家

especially in the context of developing countries,

背景下的经济学，

for many years,

我一直

I have been puzzled by these questions,

对这些问题感到困惑，

but I think I've got an answer.

但我想我已经有了答案。

I think the best catalyst that we can use to break the negative aging spiral

我认为，我们可以 用来打破负面老龄化螺旋

and unlock the power of population aging

并释放人口老龄化力量的最佳催化剂

is to create something called senior employment technologies

是创造一种叫做 老年人就业技术的东西，

and use it to democratize senior employment.

并用它来实现 老年人就业的民主化。

What is senior employment technology?

什么是老年人就业技术？

It is a technology that can be used to reduce or remove

它是一种可用于 减少或消除老年人工作的

physical and cognitive barriers for work for senior citizens.

身体和认知障碍 的技术。

Like people wearing glasses today,

就像当今戴眼镜的人一样，

which we use to erase or remove our vision problem,

我们用眼镜来消除 或消除视力问题，

senior employment technology

老年人就业技术

is something that we can use to transform senior employment

是我们可以 用来将老年人就业

from scarcity to abundance.

从稀缺转变为富裕的东西。

But unfortunately,

但不幸的是，很多人忽视

this aspect of technology has been overlooked

了技术的

by a lot of people.

这一方面。

When we actually think about it,

当我们真正考虑这个问题时，

senior living assistive technologies are quite common,

老年人生活辅助技术很常见，

but not so much in terms of senior employment technologies.

但在老年人就业 技术方面却不那么常见。

And in the context of, for example, developed countries,

these technologies do exist to some extent,

这些技术在某种程度上确实存在，

but in the context of developing countries,

但在发展中国家，

these technologies are largely nonexistent.

So if we could create senior employment technologies

那么，如果我们能创造 高级就业技术，

and use our imagination to think about what it could be,

用我们的想象力来思考 它会是什么样子，它会

what would it look like?

是什么样子？

Let me give you guys a couple of examples.

让我给你们举几个例子。

The first group of senior employment technologies

第一组高级 就业技术可以

is something that can be called physical augmentation technologies.

称为身体增强技术。

There are two types of physical barriers to work.

有两种类型的物理障碍阻碍工作。

The first one is physical barriers at work.

第一个 是工作中的物理障碍。

So as we age, we tend to lose some of our physical abilities.

因此，随着年龄的增长， 我们往往会失去一些身体能力。

For example, we lose our muscle strength,

例如，我们失去肌肉力量，

we might lose our hand and finger dexterity.

我们可能会失去 手和手指的灵活性。

Now, let's imagine the possibility

现在，让我们想象一下，

we could create cheap and accessible exoskeleton technologies,

我们可以创造出廉价 且易于使用的外骨骼技术，

which is a suit that a senior citizen could wear,

这是一种老年人可以穿的西装，

and this suit can be used to augment, for example, trunk muscles,

而这套西装可以用来增强躯干肌肉，

and the senior citizen can actually use it to lift something heavy,

老年人实际上可以 用它来举起沉重的东西，

but it doesn't feel that heavy.

但感觉并不那么沉重。

Now, if we actually think about it,

现在，如果我们真正考虑一下，技术的

this aspect of technologies could be pretty important

这一方面

in the context of developing countries,

在发展中国家的背景下 可能非常重要，

because a lot of people in developing countries

因为发展中 国家的许多人

actually use their body or their labor, a lot, for work.

实际上经常使用 自己的身体或劳动来工作。

Next, let’s imagine the possibility we could create

接下来，让我们想象一下， 我们可以创造出

cheap and accessible collaborative robots, or "cobots" in short,

廉价且易于使用的协作机器人，

简而言之“协作机器人”， 通常是机器人手臂的形式，

which is often in the form of robot arms,

而这些机器人手臂可以 用作额外的稳定手，

and these robot arms can be used as an extra steady hand

老年人可以用

that a senior citizen could use to recover their hand and finger dexterity,

它来恢复手和手指的灵活性，

especially for work that requires precision.

尤其是在需要精确的工作中。

One interesting use case for this

一个有趣的用例

could be ... senior surgeons in developing countries.

可能是... 发展中国家 的资深外科医生。

We can all agree that we wouldn't want a surgeon with a shaky hand

我们都可以同意，

我们不希望手部颤抖 的外科医生在我们身体附近

to do anything near our body.

做任何事情。

But these technologies can help senior surgeons

但是这些技术 可以帮助

with amazing skill, amazing knowledge,

拥有惊人技能、惊人知识 的资深外科医生仍然

to still make a significant contribution.

做出重大贡献。

And we know, in the period of population aging,

而且我们知道，在人口老龄 化时期，外科医生、

surgeons, doctors will be in great shortage.

医生将非常短缺。

The next physical barrier to work

下一个阻碍工作的物理障碍

is the physical barrier in getting to work itself.

是上班本身的物理障碍。

So as we age, things like getting stuck in traffic

因此，随着年龄的增长，诸如交通堵塞

or being in congested public transportation for so long

或在拥挤的公共交通 工具中待这么长时间

only to take a long walking distance

却走很长一段路之类的事情

could be a major barrier to work for many senior citizens.

可能会成为许多 老年人工作的主要障碍。

Now, if a job does not require a physical presence,

现在，如果一份工作不需要亲自在场，

let’s imagine the possibility that remote working technology such as Zoom

让我们想象一下，诸如Zoom

or maybe, in the future, the metaverse,

或将来的元宇宙之类的远程办公技术

can be used to completely remove the journey to work itself,

可能被用来完全消除 工作本身的旅程，

and allow senior citizens to work from anywhere,

并允许老年人随时随地

any time, or maybe any country.

或是从其他地方工作。

If a job does really require a physical presence,

如果一份工作确实需要亲临现场，

let’s imagine the possibility of smart city technologies.

让我们想象一下智慧城市 技术的可能性。

One aspect of smart city technology

智慧城市技术的一个方面

is focused on optimizing city transportation resources

是

by collecting data, information,

通过收集

from sensors or cameras,

来自传感器或摄像头的数据 和信息来优化城市交通资源，

and using it to improve the journey to work for senior citizens

并使用这些数据和信息 来改善老年人的工作旅程，

so that their journey to work can be better and safer.

从而使他们的上班 旅程变得更好、更安全。

The second group of senior employment technologies

第二组高级 就业技术可以

is something that can be called cognitive augmentation technologies.

称为认知增强技术。

So as we age, we also tend to lose some of our cognitive abilities.

因此，随着年龄的增长， 我们也往往会失去一些认知能力。

For example, we tend to lose our ability to memorize things

例如，我们往往会失去记忆事物的能力

or our abilities to compare pictures, objects,

或比较图片、物体的能力，

which is called perceptual speeds.

这被称为感知速度。

Let’s imagine the possibility that maybe our cell phone, our laptop

让我们想象一下，也许 我们的手机、笔记本电脑

or maybe virtual reality glasses

或虚拟现实眼镜

can be equipped with cognitive augmentation software

可以配备由人工智能

powered by artificial intelligence,

驱动的认知 增强软件，

which can be used as a companion brain.

这些软件可以用作伴侣大脑。

So in the future, this device can be used to help senior citizens,

因此，将来，这种设备 可以用来帮助老年人，

senior workers,

老年人，根据需要

to show them work-related information as needed,

向他们展示与工作相关的信息，

so they don't need to memorize everything --

这样他们就不需要 记住所有内容——

which would be great for me right now, too --

这现在 对我来说也很棒——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

help enhance, for example, perceptual speeds

例如，

when senior workers, senior citizens need to identify objects or find defects,

当老年工作者、 老年人 需要识别物体或发现缺陷时，

他们可以更好，

and they can actually make the final decision better and faster.

更快地做出最终决定。

Of course, beyond the physical and cognitive barriers

当然，除了我提到的身体和认知障碍

that I have mentioned,

之外，

we still need to find a way to remove social barriers to work,

我们仍然需要找到一种方法 来消除工作中的社会障碍，

which is called ageist beliefs.

即所谓的年龄歧视信念。

It's the belief that senior citizens

人们认为，在任何职业

are always less productive than younger workers

中，老年

for any kind of occupation.

人的生产力总是 低于年轻工人。

I think senior employment technologies can take us one step closer

我认为，老年人就业技术可以使我们

to removing, or maybe significantly reducing ageist beliefs.

离消除年龄歧视信念更近一步， 或者可能显著减少年龄歧视信念。

I think if we can do this thing, we can break the negative aging spiral

我认为，如果我们能做这件事， 我们就能打破负面的衰老螺旋，

and create something that can be called a positive aging spiral.

创造出一种可以称为 正向衰老螺旋的东西。

Imagine a 50-year-old living in a developing country,

想象一下，一个生活 在发展中国家的50岁孩子，

but in this case, this person actually invests in their skill,

但在这种情况下，这个人 实际上是在投资自己的技能，

this person actually invests in their health,

这个人实际上 是在投资他们的健康，

because they know this investment will be valued.

因为他们知道 这项投资会得到重视。

And not only that,

不仅如此，

this person actually looks forward to the next journey in their lives.

这个人实际上期待着人生的下一段旅程。

Then at the age of 60, senior citizens who are qualified to work,

然后，在60岁时，

or could become qualified to work,

由于老年就业技术而有资格工作

because of senior employment technologies,

或可能获得工作资格，

and need or want to work,

并且需要或想要工作的老年人

should be able to work.

应该能够工作。

If we can do this,

如果我们能做到这一点，

I think we can achieve and become a wealthy and healthy aging society.

我认为我们就能实现并成为 一个富裕而健康的老龄化社会。

So by using these senior employment technologies ...

因此，通过使用这些高级就业技术...

When we think about technologies ...

当我们想到技术时...

some technologies might seem scary,

有些技术可能看起来很可怕，

some might seem concerning.

有些则可能令人担忧。

But I think senior employment technologies is the right kind of technology

但我认为，高级就业技术是我们的世界、

that our world, our society needs more right now.

我们的社会现在更需要的正确技术。

And we can use senior employment technologies

而且，我们可以利用 老年人就业技术

to transform and democratize senior employment,

来改变和民主化 老年人就业，

from scarcity to abundance.

从稀缺到富裕。

And I think we can use it to transform the lives of many people

而且我认为我们可以用 它来改变许多人的生活，

from suffering through the process of population aging

从人口老龄化过程 中的痛苦转变

to flourishing in the process of population aging.

为人口老龄化过程中的繁荣。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）