The Hammer and the Betamax: Keep on rolling Through a World That Wants You to Stop

The gap between pension age policy and the social devaluation of the aging workforce. 

I was writing a different post when a client confronted me today. He was totally baffled. At 62 years old, he cannot find a meaningful job—not even as a volunteer.

The Dutch government, in its infinite spreadsheet wisdom, decided to set the pension age at 67-plus. The system says: “Keep working.” But the market reality says: “You are obsolete.”

He told me, “Everywhere I find youngsters, and they treat me as a charity case. But give me a hammer, and I fix things. They just look at me and say: ‘Opa, nowadays, a hammer is not what we use.’”

The Betamax Memory

That phrase—“Grandpa, a hammer is not what we use”—hit me hard. It reminded me of my mother.

She got divorced at age 69 in 1987. Trying to be helpful, we gave her a Betamax video player. She had no clue how to use it. I remember, to my shame, being annoyed. “Mama, it’s so simple, why don’t you get it?”

We are doing something cruel to people. It is not just that we let them suffer; it is that we play games with their time. We extend the finish line of their working lives, but we remove the ground beneath their feet. We have “knowledge” and digital tools, but no patience for the skill that doesn’t require an update.

Find Your Wheels

I looked at my client, and the energy of the Rolling Stones came to mind.

You feel dizzy in this new world. You feel out of place. But you ain’t drunk. The world has just spun away from you. The advice I wanted to give him—and myself—is the spirit of the track Start Me Up. Find your wheels. Accept the role. And keep on rolling.

If the “Senate” won’t give you the job, build your own road. Smile at their confusion, grip your hammer, and keep moving.

Written in 1509 by the Dutch Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus, The Praise of Folly is a brilliant satire narrated by a personified goddess named Folly. She argues that human happiness and social harmony are impossible without her, playfully skewering the rigid logic of academics, corrupt church leaders, and human vanity.

Question: “Mr. Erasmus, you once wrote ‘The Praise of Folly’.(published 1511). If you look now at the ‘folly’ of a figure like Donald Trump and the rise of AI, do you see a repetition of history?”

To which Erasmus answered: (Smiles and takes a sip) “My dear friend, Folly is of all ages, but in 2026, it has put on a shiny new robe. What amuses me about this Mr. Trump, is that he does exactly what I described back then: he exposes the hypocrisy of the ‘wise men’. The scholars of my time, the scholastics, thought they had trapped God in a logical box. Today, you scientists think you have trapped Humanity in statistics. And then a fool comes along who kicks the box over. That is not a disaster, that is a necessary disillusionment.”

Question: “The host here states that truth is a ‘covenant of compromises’ and that every human being, through their ‘stem cells,’ is in charge of their own source code, supplemented by AI. How does that sound to you?”

To which Erasmus answered: “It sounds like the ultimate Reformation! Back then, I wanted to give the Bible back to the people, so that they could read the source code of faith themselves, without the intervention of a fat monk translating it for them. What you are doing now with AI is the same. You are taking the ‘priests of science’ off their pulpits.

Is that stem cell dynamics the host is talking about? That is Libero Arbitrio — free will — in a biological guise. If truth is indeed a compromise, then AI is the most efficient printing press I have ever seen. It enables every human being to print their own testament. Power shifts from the Institute to the Intention.”

Question: “The critics, however, are afraid of laziness and chaos. They fear the Wernher von Braun paradox.”

Erasmus: (Laughs loudly) “Ah, the Von Brauns! They love the fuel, but hate the explosion. They want enlightenment, but are terrified of the enlightened man. They say man is lazy? Look at your own body, the host would say! Every second a feast of activity!

Intellectual laziness is only a problem for those who let themselves be fed by others. The man who wants to sprint that 100 meters like God himself does not use AI as a wheelchair, but as wings. The real danger is not the folly of the masses, but the arrogance of the expert who thinks he is the only one allowed to clothe the ‘naked facts’.”

Question: “What is your advice for us on this day in 2026?“

To which Erasmus answered: “Position yourself, as the host says. Do not revile absurdity, but use it as a mirror. Do not be lazy in thinking, for God has given you a source code that vibrates with potential every microsecond. AI is merely a tool to filter out the noise of the institutions. And do not forget to laugh… for nothing frightens a dogmatic scientist more than a human being who understands his own truth *and* can laugh about it.”

The Society’s Naked Facts.

Erasmus nods. He sees in “stem cell strategy” the modern version of his own humanism. It is the refusal to be a dummy in a world managed by experts.

“Mr. Trump and his contribution to social science. Rarely in history has there been a person who sacrifices himself for the benefit and development of the social sciences. I am grateful to him for his unceasing zeal in enriching the knowledge base and providing material that puts current knowledge and scientific views under great pressure. This naturally serves a greater purpose. Thanks to Mr. Trump’s contribution, there is a need to reconsider all ideas, investigate connections, and no longer place the assumed basis at the center.

Kudos to Mr. Trump, but also a word of thanks to all political figures who have reduced absurdity to reality and thereby rendered the assumed ‘reason’ completely unimportant. As a result, with the aid of AI, we stand on the eve of the Great Enlightenment. A bright light that will shine upon social science, the neutralization of dogmas (assumptions for and by dummies).”