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The fertility of the older mind

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Re: The fertility of the older mind

#91

Post by jpm_sd »

zero_shift wrote: post #70
randcraw wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know little about the career of law, but at age 60 I know something about seeking change. My advice: make sure you are shooting at a real target (a specific job that already exists) and not just in the general direction of a job title that sounds attractive. Many attorneys seem to find that their abstract / academic "love of the law" doesn't translate into a tangible form that they can live with day to day. Many ph…

You touch on a real concern and I'm not going to make any moves until I can put it to bed. Law would be a huge investment and I need confidence I could be happy in a variety of legal careers. That being said, my motive has always been the work rather than the domain. Of course, law is very prestigious and sounds very impressive, but what really draws me is the chance to research, think and write in a way I haven't si…

I went to school with a lot of people who later became lawyers. The only ones who are happy work in patent law as inside counsel. All the other ones seem pretty miserable.

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#92

Post by jwhitlark »

hathawsh wrote: post #38

As a child I was obsessively aware of other people's opinions of me, so I was afraid to make mistakes. Today, I am much better at putting myself in the learning mindset because I have learned a basic truth: learning is essentially the same as temporarily making a fool of myself, but in a safe place . That's how we all learned to walk, talk, and read, after all. If we can learn such complex skills as those then we can…

There was a saying in the military: pain is weakness leaving the body.

I always thought the corollary was: feeling stupid is ignorance leaving the mind.

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#93

Post by mirimir »

> A simple lack of confidence may present the biggest barrier – particularly for older learners, past retirement, who may have already started to fear a more general cognitive decline.

I see this frequently in teaching. It's a horrible downward spiral. And it's been hard for me to learn tact, so I don't add to the problem.

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#94

Post by kevmo »

chousuke wrote: post #49
kevmo wrote: post #4

I am 33, and I have paid a lot of anecdotal attention to what seems to keep my brain fresh, i.e. able to still learn new skills at a rapid clip. Just by way of credentials: I was a successful lawyer for a few years of my 20s (rising to level of federal law clerk), but then taught myself to program and have been working as a professional programmer since shortly before my 30th birthday. Even though I am on the older s…

I'm 31, and I started learning to draw a bit over a month ago. Progress is slow, but it's been visible. The kicker was when I realized that talent doesn't really exist; talent is built. The sort of people who are "naturally" talented at drawing and arts are likely to be people who are naturally more intuitive (rather than analytical) and will spend lots of time just grinding away at things instead of trying to unders…

They say every cartoonist has 200 bad pages in them. Best to get through those first 200 ASAP.

(source: my girlfriend is a cartoonist)

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#95

Post by mirimir »

WalterBright wrote: post #58
hathawsh wrote: post #38

As a child I was obsessively aware of other people's opinions of me, so I was afraid to make mistakes. Today, I am much better at putting myself in the learning mindset because I have learned a basic truth: learning is essentially the same as temporarily making a fool of myself, but in a safe place . That's how we all learned to walk, talk, and read, after all. If we can learn such complex skills as those then we can…

> As a child I was obsessively aware of other people's opinions of me 1. Young people care what others think of them 2. Middle aged people don't care what others think of them 3. Old people realize that nobody thinks about them

I'm old, and I'm still at "don't care". Except when it matters, of course. But I have noticed that old age helps with blending in, and attracting less scrutiny. Also, one gets some deference. So hey.

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#96

Post by aklemm »

mythrwy wrote: post #86

When I reached my early 30's I felt I was getting old. Looking back I believe this is because I was indeed just past the age of physical prime and could feel the slight slowdown. When I reached my early 40's all that went away and I kept forgetting I wasn't in my 20's. (although I certainly am not). I didn't feel "old" anymore, but did start to realize life was short and think more about the future. I don't know if s…

Resonates with me. Either we aren't ready for society in our 20s or society isn't ready for us. Either way, I think there's a missed opportunity there for a better use of that decade.

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#97

Post by sowbug »

yodsanklai wrote: post #33

One issue I'm having when learning new things (at 41) is memory. I don't feel less sharp than before, but I have a harder time to recall things that I studied a few months before. For instance, I regularly take coursera classes but one year later, I don't remember much. I'm trying to take more notes, hopefully it'll help.

Are you absolutely certain it was better when you were younger? I don't remember much from high school or college, especially for the classes where I crammed the night before exams.

If you do remember your studies better from youth, consider that a high school or college course is typically several months' worth of daily classes, while a Coursera class is maybe 10 hours total where your brain thinks you're vegging out at home alone watching TV. If you could somehow spare a full-time semester today at 41, I bet you'd retain a good amount of what you learned.

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#98

Post by zaptheimpaler »

charlieflowers wrote: post #66
WalterBright wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a child I was obsessively aware of other people's opinions of me 1. Young people care what others think of them 2. Middle aged people don't care what others think of them 3. Old people realize that nobody thinks about them

I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink. But now I'm insecure, and I care what people think. - Twenty One Pilots

Both of those guys are still in their 20s. Hardly at middle age or old age yet :)

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#99

Post by evincarofautumn »

koolba wrote: post #10
gopalv wrote: post #3

> Or perhaps children are simply less inhibited and aren’t so scared about making mistakes. Struck a chord there - because I had come to the same conclusion of sorts, about my ability to practice activities in public. Riding a bicycle is a fairly hard thing to learn and very easy to practice (from my experience), but learning to do that when everyone around is falling off them was much less of a struggle than trying…

Learning a language (spoken, not programming) is similar. If you're willing to sound like an idiot with a bad accent, constantly messing up words and parts of speech, it's easy to get immersed. If you're self conscious it's significantly more difficult.

My problem with languages is that I’m very good at phonetics, so I can speak confidently with minimal accent as long as I know what I want to say—I’ve actually done some voice acting in languages that I don’t speak—but my comprehension is terrible. I can read French almost as fast as I read English, but can’t really follow a TV show or carry on a conversation. It’s maddening.

Unfortunately, there seem to be more resources out there for people with the opposite problem: poor production but good comprehension. Anyone in a similar boat to mine who can offer advice? Is simple immersion the best approach?

Re: The fertility of the older mind

#100

Post by mirimir »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #98
charlieflowers wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink. But now I'm insecure, and I care what people think. - Twenty One Pilots

Both of those guys are still in their 20s. Hardly at middle age or old age yet :)

Sure, but 28 is twice 14 :)
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