I have been writing about the immense need to assist the aging population, which is rising at an alarming rate of 1.8 million per year in America.

Without making you bored in my repeated messages, the 65-plus sector of the American population is 49 million today and will rise to 90 million in 2050. The total population of this country then would reach near 400 million, so the sector population is close to 20 percent of the whole. A tsunami is heading toward us, whether you like it or not. Putting out heads in sand will cause the ultimate societal catastrophe.

Don’t say “that’s 33 years from now.” That kind of thinking is the big problem, which had kept us in procrastination instead of facing the reality and doing something about it.

As we all know (or have been avoiding knowing), human ability, both physical and mental, begins to decline starting around age 65. This starting point of decline and degree to which the decline slopes downward vary by the individual, but the decline happens to all humans sooner or later. Given the absolute certainty of the eventual demise of our life called death, the question is not to defy the natural law, but to somehow improve the quality of our life or prevent our life’s quality from plunging down so far that living becomes very hard and unpleasant.

On this point through the past several weeks and sporadically throughout the past years, I have been writing to promote inventions and resultant manufacturing in the field mostly centered around the idea of improving the quality of life for those age 65 and older. Well, the purpose of my doing so is based on the following idea.

The United States must get back in manufacturing in a big way just like we had it from the 1850s to 1970s. America was literally the top dog of manufacturing products from A to Z, and “Made in America” dominated the world in that period. As manufacturing brought prosperity, the nation enjoyed no debt throughout the period and the standard of living rose substantially. Now, we buy almost everything from overseas, our national debt soared to almost $20 trillion, or $62,000 per U.S. citizen. And guess what? Our standard of living is stagnant and income inequality soared.

Many people look at the significant rise in the 65 and older population as a troublesome development, and seem to stay in denial. Yes, it is indeed a very significant social and economic upheaval. But, doing nothing solves no problem. In fact, I think our whole nation seems to be in denial.

On the contrary, in my observation it may be a great opportunity we are blessed with. The aging population needs all sorts of implements, devices, machines and systems to improve the quality of life. The simple fact is our nation has the technological ability to develop what’s needed, and the huge market inside our country to deliver to. If our government, federal, state and even municipal, takes heed of the dire needs of the aged, and our ability to develop technologically superior products/systems, we can build a massive, profitable industry that fills our needs and export the products worldwide to earn massive positive balance of payment to erase the huge national debt. Yes, now is the good chance for an American Renaissance.

A Confucius says “If you want to start a war, study about yourself carefully, then study your potential enemy carefully. You might conclude the war isn’t necessary.” I am not saying an American Renaissance would be a war, but, let us assess our strength first. We have world-class computer technology spread all over the country. Our programmers are well acquainted with artificial intelligence. An example is the autonomous driving car. Our country literally leads the world in that technology. Someday soon, that technology would be a boon to our aging generation whose vision, hearing and reflexes are no longer as good as used to be.

If we could perfect the autonomous cars within a few years, we should be able to perfect many more projects needed to assist the aged population. So, 2018 to 2050 could be exciting years for the aged. The auto industry, when we discuss the technology of autonomous cars, is well connected in the world-wide theater. American manufactures, German, Japanese and others all seem to either work together under some agreements, and Google, Microsoft and Apple seem to be in the center of activities. This type of cooperative competitions seems to quicken the speed of development. It was only a few years ago, autonomous driving was showing up in the press as future issue, and now cars are tried on the highways.

That is a bit different from development of product to assist for the aged. An autonomous car is just an attachment for a car in a simplified term. The car equipped with the autonomous technology already has all the necessary mechanical components of being a car. Yes, it is an ordinary car. So, an autonomous driving car can become just an ordinary car if the feature is disabled. And any malfunction of the system wouldn’t hurt the driver or passengers. We hope. One death, however, was reported with a Tesla car that hit a tractor-trailer, and the driver passed away. This type of accident may rise significantly as the autonomous driving technology becomes more popular in years to come.

However, developing various products to assist the aging population would present itself as a much more complex issue than the autonomous driving.

To be continued.

Shintaro “Sam” Asano was named by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011 as one of the 10 most influential inventors of the 20th century who improved our lives. He is a businessman and inven­tor in the field of electronics and mechanical systems who is credited as the in­ventor of the portable fax machine. Write to him at sasano@gmail.com.