Is it true that perceptions of aging have grown more negative over time? Was old age regarded more positively in bygone eras?
That was my question too as I was reading, and I largely agree with your conclusions—though I find that you conflate attitudes toward aging with attitudes toward the aged. My impression from everything I've read, is that attitudes toward the aged were mixed but leaning toward the negative, but attitudes toward aging were steadfastly negative. These negative attitudes were enshrined in myths, and today in religion, and often take the form of a quest for immortality or even (usually in religion and spirituality) taking it for granted as an ontological fact given to us for free (no quest required).
That ageism is still a thing was made starkly clear to me during this whole pandemic situation, where many people online were calling for governments to let the old die, citing Nature or Money or some such.
Was watching an interview with Michael Shermer today and his guest, Michael Shellenberger, had a skull—a memento mori—on his desk behind him.
I'm interested in this aging stuff and our attitudes toward it and how religions mask them by fake-satisfying our natural longing for immortality, so thanks for the article!