KATHRYN: I noticed your hair, Commodore, but I was afraid it would be rude to comment on it.
CDRE TAGON: How so, Lieutenant?
KATHRYN: You know the stereotype, right? The old man vainly attempting to restore a youthful appearance?
CDRE TAGON: I do, but by all means go on.
KATHRYN: A comment on your hair might have come across as an accusation of vanity.
CDRE TAGON: Or you could have said "I like what you're doing with your hair, Commodore."
CDRE TAGON: Stereotypically, I would have liked that.
KATHRYN: Ah. Should I keep digging?
CDRE TAGON: To the bottom.
KATHRYN: For millennia we've had age-based social strata, but now, with the upper limits of longevity thrown further than we can see, none of us are actually "old" anymore.
We will need an entirely new syntax and it's not just words like "old" and "young." We'll need to redesign and re-interpret everything from memes to micro-expressions.
KATHRYN: What will this conversation sound like in fifty years?
CDRE TAGON: Let's go back to the part where you said "none of us" and "anymore."
I'm seventy-four.
CDRE TAGON: Sound off!
TAGON: Fifty.
MURTAUGH: Sixty-three.
KATHRYN: Youngest one in the room.
IAFA: Cherish it.