Poll: How old are you? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#221

Post by JoeAltmaier » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 12:10 PM UTC

SiVal wrote: post #132

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah; but those thoughts are now 50 years out of date. That's why old people feel different; they are from another time.

The older I get, the more interested I am in the thoughts of people from another time. I discovered long ago that there is far less continuity of wisdom than young people realize. There is a common assumption among young people that the best ideas of the past are carried forward while the failed ideas are left behind. This is true to some extent, but it is much less true than most young people seem to think. People v…

Pah. Why are old-people's 'experiences' not also 'plausible-sounding bad ideas' from another time? In fact, that's the only mechanism your pessimism permits.

I'd guess, instead, that these modern bad ideas are possibly good ideas that just don't jibe with your experience.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#222

Post by frankcaron » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 1:18 PM UTC

Neat to see how much more traffic HN has been getting over the years and yet how the average age seems to be creeping up. Oldmanysiteis?

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#223

Post by Andrew_Quentin » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:06 PM UTC

62 people are 0-10!?

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#224

Post by codebolt » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:08 PM UTC

djbender wrote: post #14

jpdoctor wrote: post #11

God these types of polls make me feel like a geezer. Just in case any of you whippersnappers are wondering what it feels like to start hacking in your teens and continue (in one form or another) to be hacking into your late 40s: It is pretty much the same after the first cup of coffee in the morning. Where it differs is the lull in the afternoon makes me want to nap. (So I do.) The drag is that until I look in the mi…

Age is only a number.

Not just any number. It's the number of whole orbits you've made around the sun since leaving your mothers womb.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#225

Post by mathattack » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 3:05 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #42

58, writing more code, having more fun, reaching more people, & making more $ than ever, all of which still seem limitless: edw519's Hacker Quality of Life | ?? | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ***** ------------------------------- 10 20 30 40 50 60

I'm with you on the upwards trend. I would just toss in some non-linear jumps up as the family grows, and some setbacks as older family members become ill.

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#226

Post by alexvr » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 3:39 PM UTC

tehwalrus wrote: post #204

alexvr wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did some research after asking this, and the studies' results seem to contradict each other. Apparently, our brains are largest at the age of 14, and we're smartest at about 15, especially in terms of new concept absorption. While that may be true, I once read that a fatty substance called myelin, which apparently facilitates rapid and efficient processing, is most ubiquitous in the brain in your early twenties, an…

it would be really cool to see some of the sources you found in your research... :)

I learned a lot from the Seattle Longitudinal Study. This diagram basically sums up their findings: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1474018/figure/F... Also, they mentioned that if you correct for the loss in perceptual speed that comes with age, the drop is not as significant. I interpret this as, "If we give elderly people as much time as they need to take an IQ test, their performance will be relatively close to that of 20-somethings taking the same test under the same conditions." (I may be wrong, but that's what I would like to think.) I also found a study by UVA that is looking for participants, in case anyone is interested: http://faculty.virginia.edu/cogage/

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#227

Post by pasbesoin » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 4:24 PM UTC

garethadams wrote: post #196

bjhoops1 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was really hoping "making more" would be followed with "love". Money's great too, though. :)

Since this is Hacker News I think you can treat `$` as a placeholder variable for any word you want

$_

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#228

Post by podperson » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 4:54 PM UTC

mahyarm wrote: post #74

podperson wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where's the bump for "kids go to college"?

That is really parent dependent. My mother took it really hard when I eventually moved out of the house and when I moved out of the same city.

There's going to be some kind of bump though...

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#229

Post by VladRussian2 » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 8:03 PM UTC

tinco wrote: post #214

VladRussian2 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>after putting in the energy to research that guy's content a year back? this statement and your whole post is just brain fart - i.e. outlandish conclusion made without knowing any facts or even basic understanding of context. The HN community response to Aaron's cry for help was spearheaded by the above mentioned top-voted comment and was basically a prudish guilty verdict from a jury of his peers. It has prominent…

It wasn't a prudish guilty verdict. It was a reasonable response from the community, given the circumstances and the knowledge of the case at that time. I don't think at all voicing your reasonable opinion on a public forum counts at all as a douche move. Not if it later turns out this opinion missed crucial information about the mental state and fragile support framework of Aaron. And especially not if that opinion…

>Not if it later turns out this opinion missed crucial information about the mental state and fragile support framework of Aaron

it is not about "later" and specific Aaron's mental state. It is about very specific pattern of "holier than thou" types making up and leading the approving crowd throwing rotten tomatoes and kicking a witch being drawn toward the prepared stake, an "enemy of the people" being shot or sent to Gulag, a school teacher being sent to reeducation camp, a blacklisted for "unamerican activities" actor being denied a job, and yes, a young prodigy whose life being crushed and flushed down the drain for a Prometheus like action.

>Claiming Edward spearheaded a negative community response to a desperate cry for help of a dying man is ludicrous. And I think you should apologize for insinuating that

ok, i've just checked my English through Webster

spearhead:

2: a leading element, force, or influence in an undertaking or development

you don't think his opinion was a leading element and influence in that community response ? Ok. That just my opinion against yours. Lets look what other people are saying:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/14/aaron-swartz-asking-for-hel...

Surprise! they cite the same comment.

>as I am sure expressing these thoughts puts significant torment on Edward.

have you read the top voted comment on this page we right now at? Sounds like that of a tormented man?

Re: Poll: How old are you?

#230

Post by gbog » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 11:49 PM UTC

klibertp wrote: post #217

gbog wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you are right, I think you are misled by some anti kid cliche.

There was a better article somewhere, but first google result on the topic should suffice: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2284776/Can-parent...

As stated by Kahneman happiness (pain) level is felt in retrospect as an average of the most happy (painful) moment and happiness (pain) level of the last moment. If you have kids you have an easy happiness peak (say their first smile) and are likely to be less lonely in your old days.