As we come to the end of one more year of the 21st century, its fourteenth, theRevista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia ("the Brazilian Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology") once again throws back the curtains on the stage of independent scientific production. As has been the case in previous issues, we shall focus on quality, rather than regional and thematic inequality. In this context, we bring to the fore the need to allow and encourage access and visibility to a wide-range of scientific production, based on scientific rigor, aimed at the democratization of knowledge. An opportunity for those who produce such work, and an opportunity for those who need it. We are no longer a simple sharer of scientific information among our peers, but have taken over social networks and become international in the true sense of the word.
Guided by this logic and our own intellectual curiosity and, to paraphrase the songwriter Gilberto Gil, we ask what we want, or what is important for us, to know. As Gil sang, "we want to know what to do with the new inventions. We want proper news about the discovery of antimatter and its implications for the emancipation of our great populations, the poor of the city, the steppes and the sertões. We want to know when we are going to have more affordable lasers. We want, in fact, a report, a more serious explanation of the mystery of light, the light of the flying saucer, for the illumination of man, so needy, so suffering, so lost at this great distance from the home of the lord. We want to know, we want to face the future with confidence. We need to predict the path of illusion, the illusion of power. Because if we have been allowed to know so many things, it is best that everyone knows what could happen. We want to know, we all want to know."
But what is it, in fact, that we produce about the emancipation of poor elderly people, from cities and rural areas, arid and/or inaccessible regions? We asked ourselves, when will the enormous elderly population of this country, including those who have lived lives of exclusion, have access to cheaper products and procedures, the fruit of all our subsidized research? We want ideas that illuminate the elderly or those involved in the aging process, which release them from the burden of disease, prejudice and discrimination and give them the opportunity to approach the future with confidence.
We want to rethink the role of the professions in providing care to the elderly, so that they provide their services not on the basis of a few more years of life, but based on an understanding of the real needs of individuals who have already lived for many years. How can we contribute to well-being and quality of life during this stage of life? TheRevista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia is attempting to play its part. We seek to predict the path of illusion, and set its feet solidly on the ground. As we have already been permitted to know so much, we now need to know what to do. We believe we are on the right track. "Not always winning, not always losing, but learning how to play..."
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Oct-Dec 2015
