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72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

washingtonpost.com

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Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#41

Post by cm2187 »

joshlemer wrote: post #26

This may be good for his personal development or growth and understanding but wouldn't his constituents rather he dedicate his time to representing them and their interests in the house of representatives?

Representatives have to do both, represent the interest of their voters, but also legislate on all sort of national topics, from financial regulations to defence matters. So it is very reasonable for a member of congress to become a specialist on a topic that may be of critical importance to the country one day. I wish more would have done that in the 90s when the internet and personal computers started being a big thing.

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#42

Post by pramsey »

jtchang wrote: post #13

Many of us are well aware of how difficult some of the prerequisite CS classes can be so he definitely has my respect.

Article says he's working on multi-variate calculus now, which implies he was able to dredge up enough of his 50-year-old knowledge of basic calculus to even understand what the teacher is saying. Impressive.

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#43

Post by xerxesaa »

joshlemer wrote: post #26

This may be good for his personal development or growth and understanding but wouldn't his constituents rather he dedicate his time to representing them and their interests in the house of representatives?

If this same person was deciding to spend 3-4 hours a day watching Netflix or playing basketball, this would not even be a question. He has a life outside of Congress and I see nothing wrong with using it to further his education.

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#44

Post by lwansbrough »

It surely needn’t be a requirement, but demonstrating this level of commitment to executing your duties to the best of your ability is worthy of a lot of respect. Props to Rep. Beyer. Even if it means his vote just cancels out some other congresspersons vote that has been paid for.

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#45

Post by ngoilapites »

themodelplumber wrote: post #11
ngoilapites wrote: post #4

Is there a good book about techniques for learning in maturity?

There are thousands of different techniques from thousands of different developmental philosophies. For example from a Jungian-oriented perspective on "the afternoon of life," you could say that the tension between opposites is reduced, so you can finally start to look at combining opposites that you had previously thought were required to work separately. Putting the weapons down and putting ideals back in the front…

I guess life processes are quite different at maturity, e.g. routines, roles and responsibilities they all condition time and available attention, which condition the possibility space for learning.

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#47

Post by lynx23 »

wolverine876 wrote: post #7

A major problem in our society is that '72-year-old' is in the headline. If you are not growing, you are declining or dead. Not only does the world change under your feet, you need that stimulation just to stay healthy. We ruin the talent, economic value, and freedom and opportunity of a very large portion of the population by dimissing the growth of anyone in late middle-age or later. 72 years old shouldn't be remar…

One might even go further and read this headline as "Old fart is pretending to go to school", at least that is the subtext. I kind of hear you, but I also don't quite believe you. For some it is definitely possible, but most people with that age actually dont have enough cognitive abilities left to acquire a degree. Heck, I know 35 year olds which would need a degree to be able to persue their dream job, but I am very doubtful they will even summon up the courage (and intelligence, for that matter).

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#48

Post by mindcrime »

cm2187 wrote: post #36
wolverine876 wrote: post #7

A major problem in our society is that '72-year-old' is in the headline. If you are not growing, you are declining or dead. Not only does the world change under your feet, you need that stimulation just to stay healthy. We ruin the talent, economic value, and freedom and opportunity of a very large portion of the population by dimissing the growth of anyone in late middle-age or later. 72 years old shouldn't be remar…

The reality is that most people's mental abilities have started to decline by this age, particularly the capacity to learn new things. That makes this story all the more remarkable. Part of that I think is certainly as you suggest, that the brain is a muscle, you need to use it to keep it fit. But you can't escape nature either. To keep the muscle analogy, you won’t compete as an athlete at 72 no matter how fit you r…

To keep the muscle analogy, you won’t compete as an athlete at 72 no matter how fit you remain.

I hate to be "pedantic guy", but FWIW there are absolutely 72 year old competitive athletes. They may not be competitive against folks 20+ years younger than themselves, but many people continue to compete in "masters" divisions of various competitive sports until pretty much the day they keel over. Heck, there are folks who are 70+ competing in ultra-marathons.

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#49

Post by cm2187 »

mindcrime wrote: post #48
cm2187 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reality is that most people's mental abilities have started to decline by this age, particularly the capacity to learn new things. That makes this story all the more remarkable. Part of that I think is certainly as you suggest, that the brain is a muscle, you need to use it to keep it fit. But you can't escape nature either. To keep the muscle analogy, you won’t compete as an athlete at 72 no matter how fit you r…

To keep the muscle analogy, you won’t compete as an athlete at 72 no matter how fit you remain. I hate to be "pedantic guy", but FWIW there are absolutely 72 year old competitive athletes. They may not be competitive against folks 20+ years younger than themselves, but many people continue to compete in "masters" divisions of various competitive sports until pretty much the day they keel over. Heck, there are folks w…

> They may not be competitive against folks 20+ years younger than themselves

that's kind of my point. Of course they can compete against other 72 year olds.

Re: 72-year-old Congressman pursues a Master's in AI

#50

Post by p00rsplr »

wankle wrote: post #27
rychco wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because aging politicians do not adequately represent the majority of their constituents.

Given that the publicly accepted view of aging is that we are all living longer; the math does not support your view.

Math is generalized logic, not a theory of a specific systems parameters and behavior.

Humans memorize the information relative to them. If politicians memorize racism they’ll make racist policy.

I don’t want people who think in 100 year old social terms alone deciding my fate.

Society that never retires old ideas, demands speech stay on specific rails is hardly free. That type of governance is the basis of a police state.

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