In the halls of power, from South Africa, to Washington, to Beijing, a great acceleration is underway. But it is not the rapid pace of technological change or cultural evolution. It is the acceleration of age. The world is being led by a political class that is, on average, older than at any point in human history. They preside over revolutions in AI and climate they will not live to see, crafting laws for a future they will never inhabit, funded by debts they will never repay. This is not a coincidence or a simple demographic trend. It is a gerontocracy: a rule by the old, for the old. This episode asks: how did our political systems become nursing homes with nuclear codes? And what is the cost of this unprecedented intergenerational power imbalance?

This episode will conduct a historical autopsy of political leadership, tracing its evolut ...