Young people are the dumbest demograhic

[think positive]

[pietillidie]

It takes a lot of discipline to be either a sober young person or an open-minded old fart, counteracting the context around you.

The stuff people are unaware they have no clue about is the bit which disturbs me. Even so, should we wish to retain a whiff of free will about us, old farts ought to be judged a hell of a lot harder for that sort of ignorance given young folks are, well, younger, and more narcissistic by chemistry.

[stui magpie]

Leaving free will in the mix but lets take IQ out of it. IQ is something that doesn't change measurably over a life.

Consider that the brain is basically an organic computer, a learning machine. Everything you do, learn and experience is filed away and used in the matrix used for decision making. That data set informs your opinions and beliefs. People hold that stuff pretty close and we've all seen how people rationalise or bat away information that doesn't match their view, enter into cognitive dissonance when events occur that they can't rationalise or bat away and can change their opinions and beliefs over time with the repeated trickle of new information.

It logically follows that the more data in that decision making matrix, the better decisions people make. That data is usually accumulated over time with more input from things you do, learn and experience personally.

Now, not everyone who is older has a breadth of experiences. Some people exist happily in a rut doing the same job and the same routine for their whole working life so they don't accumulate new data, just continually reinforce the old data until their decision making and thinking is locked and they're actually dumber than when they were young because they're inflexible and incapable of change or growth.

For the majority however, as you grow older you do expand that data set, do learn, grow and experience new things, all of which means your decision making are more informed than when you were younger and therefore, less dumb.

QED.

[David]

[stui magpie]

You used the word "intelligence" again, I used the term decision making. Difference as I suggested above.

[Morrigu]

Well.... I could agree with you if it wasn't for Consultants

[stui magpie]

^ I think one important thing you're overlooking there is that we're not just gaining data, but losing it too. As we gain memories and skills, others are wiped or begin to atrophy. If you want to continue using the computer analogy, we don't have unlimited disk space; at some point (maybe around the mid-20s, maybe a little after), we reach capacity. .

Simplistic and incorrect.

Yeah we don't have unlimited disc space but to compare the brains functionality to a current day PC is like comparing a model t ford to the space shuttle. Modern PC's aren't even remotely close to being able to replicate brain function, when they can watch out because that's when AI reaches the point the human race is farked.

You don't lose data, life it not a Simpsons episode, it just gets compressed and archived and harder to access but it's still there.

[David]

[pietillidie]

Nothing much to disagree with in the above.

Experience definitely adds content, but as Stui noted, practice or the lack thereof subsequently strengthens or weakens neuronal pathways and therefore practical accessibility.

Raw computation power then determines the number and complexity of calculations that can be run on the given infrastructure within a useful time frame.

BTW, this is why strong forms of identification, from religion to ethnic grouping, nationalism, partyism, sexuality and social class, have a habit of turning people into complete morons. Meanwhile, in lieu of a charmed life consisting of a broad experience and few constraints, a broad education done well is the worst enemy of The Club and always will be.

It's disconcerting watching people cling to narrow group identities once you factor in the cognitive costs of doing so.

[think positive]

Having watched a few people turn cult like, through the religious school system or otherwise, I totally agree with you. Gobsmacking the stuff they say/believe.

[pietillidie]

^Indeed.

But take even something like sexual identity. If people get too much of their identity from being stereotypically macho or feminine, or even stereotypically gay, they can easily lock themselves into very small boxes.

[stui magpie]

^

Yep. It works across the board. Any very strong set of beliefs whether religious or political or otherwise or personal identity affiliation impacts the ability to take in new and contrary information and grow. Instead they continually reinforce the wall around their belief system until they do indeed lock themselves into a box of their own making.

i see it at work where I have people with zero initiative and a narrow knowledge set trying to say they have 20 years experience.

When you break it down, they have 6 weeks experience reinforced and repeated for 20 years because they were taught one task, learned it by wrote with no understanding and repeated it. They find process change incomprehensible and struggle to deal ego wise with new employees trained properly who have a much broader and deeper knowledge after 12 months than they're ever going to be capable of developing.

Younger people are generally far more open and flexible to change, I'll give them that.

[think positive]

^

Yep. It works across the board. Any very strong set of beliefs whether religious or political or otherwise or personal identity affiliation impacts the ability to take in new and contrary information and grow. Instead they continually reinforce the wall around their belief system until they do indeed lock themselves into a box of their own making.

i see it at work where I have people with zero initiative and a narrow knowledge set trying to say they have 20 years experience.

When you break it down, they have 6 weeks experience reinforced and repeated for 20 years because they were taught one task, learned it by wrote with no understanding and repeated it. They find process change incomprehensible and struggle to deal ego wise with new employees trained properly who have a much broader and deeper knowledge after 12 months than they're ever going to be capable of developing.

Younger people are generally far more open and flexible to change, I'll give them that.

thats because of Pokemon.

They have a new fad every other week, they need change

[blackmissionary]

I'm not sure if it's come up before, but this piece challenging the mainstream idea that the brain is like a computer is worth a look.

https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does- ... a-computer

[David]