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[Trekkin]

Pretty sure Data is the canonical answer.  That does make me wonder how this should work though, and while we see the helmsmen rotate out, I assume every position should have rotating shifts.  I assume Data, as the second officer, would normally be in charge at some point anyway.

Yes, they do apparently have shifts.

[Reelya]

It's TV magic that things usually happen on the "day shift" ... in space.

[dragdeler]

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[Frumple]

No? Distrust isn't the right word. Acknowledgement that society's structures pointedly fail on some issues, more like. Not sure evolution's the right word, either, really. Y'mght want to unpack that question, heh.

[Yoink]

I turn up the stereo, but there's no volume knob for the bad thoughts.

[methylatedspirit]

There's technically a volume knob for bad thoughts, problem is, it's actually the master volume knob. If it's set too low, noise creeps in, and your thoughts are lost to the noise. The bad thoughts are gone, but is it really worth it?

...sorry, got autobiographical. My bad thoughts say hello.

[dragdeler]

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[Frumple]

Evolving's narrow biological sense doesn't involve purpose, is most of the iffy bit, heh. It's just noise thrown against a wall with some parts sticking and some not. There's nothing to trust, just stuff to adjust to (or die).

And I don't think it's a matter of deserve, exactly. There's precious few on this planet that'll outright say, or believe, that the elderly (or much of anyone, really, barring maybe some nebulous bad people grouping) deserve to starve to death in a pile of their own filth as they fritter away whatever material goods or safety they may have accumulated due to their mind aging into a stew of incapable mush.

Stuff like pensions are more an acknowledgement that a people are just kinda' fucking bad at the planning and logistics involved with making that not happen, especially in edge cases where family is incapable or unwilling to provide and/or the increasingly non-edge case where the old person lives way longer than expected (for lack of a better word). Damnably often not nearly a sufficient one, but... it's not something I'd categorize as a profound distrust. Just an attempt to paper over a persistent problem. Distrust is probably pretty close to it as a descriptor, but there's nothing profound (or major, or whatever) about it. S'just kinda' routine.

It's not just pensions, mind. Every sort of elderly assistance/retirement program is basically the same thing, with varying levels of effectiveness. Folks aren't going to be able to provide for themselves forever, and someone's gonna' have to (or eventually deal with a corpsemess, I guess).

[dragdeler]

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[itisnotlogical]

This online caption work I've been doing is the equivalent of grinding a low-level quest in an RPG because the risk/reward ratio is better, despite requiring much more time to get the same result as just advancing the plot.

[CABL]

Life Pro-Tip: If you see urinating genitals in your dreams, and toilets, wake up immediately.

Out of context bait, I know.

[Yoink]

oh nooooooooo

You'll be in my prayers.

[Reelya]

Isn't the pension system physical proof of a profound distrust in society's evolution?

Umm ... not at all. Not sure what you're getting at about "society's evolution" either, that would allow us to not have to take care of old people.

So you're thinking that children should be obligated to care for their parents in their old age, just for being their parents? And that would be a more evolved society? It wouldn't actually. Children get no say in being born, the parents make that decision. Having kids and expecting them to financially support you in your old age isn't "love" it's creating entire people for self-interested motives.

A pension scheme that everyone pays into and everyone gets money from recognizes human individual rights better, because it doesn't incentive the creation of new humans for purely self-interested reasons.

[Frumple]

Tries to replace it, anyway. It's still heavily reliant on 'pray family will take care of your rotting ass' for much in the way of quality of life (or not going bankrupt and then ending up on the streets or something) in plenty of places that have pensions (or some equivalent). Elderly care infrastructure is basically fucking abysmal in most places, from what I understand, and the lack is mostly dumped on the shoulders of relatives. Definitely know that stateside it's a major, growing, and mostly kept quiet problem, and so far as I'm aware many other developed nations also aren't doing so hot on that front. We were not prepared for people to make the gains in average lifespan we have made

[Reelya]

And if you listen to most of the debate, the reaction is mostly "oh dear dear, that will affect the budget - we'll have to raise the pension age!"

The problem is if someone's 67 and you raise their pension age to 70, they aren't in their prime-earning years as it is, they're probably on other government benefits already, and if not, then those extra 3 years of work will definitely take a physical toll and may even increase their medical needs.