Thank you, Ken, for your thoughtful reply.

I think it was Plato who said (in the Republic) that liberalism eventually leads to depravity, and that is where we are now. It has crept up on us so slowly that we have grown accustomed to it - like a frog in slow cooking water.

I most definitely remember wearing a short white crochet dress - right up to m y bum and stopping the traffic. Happened to me a couple of times. :) A couple of cars even drove into the cars in front of them. Once, I even got asked into the Captain's cockpit on a flight. My sister was asked twice. My boyfriend of the time (15 years older) was appalled at the non-length of my dress.

My comment wasn't a criticism. It was a reflection of society.

Yet, I did not agree with my generation. I have never taken a drug in my life. I couldn't stand the 'heavy metal' music. And I saw the outcome then as clearly as it is happening now. I never agreed with my generation, and I was always out of step with them.

I did not agree with the permissive society then, and I do not agree with it now. It works for men. It does not work for women. There is a 50% depression rate. In the US, 25% of people have life long mental illness and another 25% have chronic mental illness.

Look at the obesity. It has never existed before in the percentages it does now. Fat used to be considered a sign of prosperity in some societies, and men married those women (who were possessions) for doweries, and access to their parental wealth.

Consider that, in our youth, a contract was made by a shake of the hands, and adhered to. Our parent's had a sense of honor. Our generation does not, and they have set the tone for the succeeding generations.

IQ has fallen considerably. It has been for more than a century. Human physical strength has become weaker. I read research on that in the 60s. The research was done in the 40s.

If you doubt that, look at our leaders. Ask yourself why people like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk exist. How is it that they honestly believe that we are going to live in Star Trek mode? What they think is impossible. Their brains have been negatively affected by something.

It is far more feasible to fix the earth than to contemplate Mars as an escape route.

If you google me, and you look at the photos of me, most of them were taken in my late 50s and early 60s. I wasn't invisible then. I have become invisible now, because I've put on weight, lost interest in dressing well, etc. Even three years ago, I was still drawing attention. - at 68.

I simply did not realize that looks had such an impact on people. Now I am invisible, and to be honest, I really like it. That said, I don't think that people want to become invisible. I think it's that they don't realize how much appearance affects visibility.

When it comes to keeping up, I don't think anyone can. I think that the increase in mental illness is driven by the stress of constantly striving to keep up. Our brains just don't work that fast. :)