[philipkglass]

About 0.7% of the American public dies each year:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db355.htm

An idea that sees its support changing substantially faster than 0.7% per year is not primarily driven by older members of the public dying.

The original Civil Rights movement, the fight for gay marriage, cannabis legalization -- all of these saw public acceptance shift much faster than population turnover can account for. Do you have examples in mind of trends that actually required the die-off of older people?

[barrkel]

"Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time?" - https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20161574

Another one is dictators. It seems like it took Franco's death for things to change in Spain, and Salazar's brain hemorrhage to change things in Portugal. Would Mubarak have been able to control the situation in Egypt if he was physically younger?

[TomMarius]

Would people wait for their death if it was not coming?