4 ms·

A Hacker's Guide to Getting Old

98 points by szczys 10y ago

copperx 10y ago
I wonder whether reading a ton helps; I have the suspicion that it does. Alan Kay sounds extremely sharp for his age, as does Don Knuth, and pretty much most intellectuals. But I still would want to know what's the best activity to keep the mind sharp. Chess grandmasters show a decline at about 35 if I recall correctly. I suspect that programming ability will also show a steep decline, but I wonder how big. I'll keep an eye on Torvalds and Carmack because I don't think they'll give up programming as they get older.
- keithpeter 10y ago
  "I'll keep an eye on Torvalds and Carmack because I don't think they'll give up programming as they get older." Torvalds is just a lad. Good heavens. Seriously, does he not mainly manage the project and use his encyclopedic knowledge of the kernel and its functions to keep the garden clean? Or is he still bashing out pages of gnarly C?? My point being that as people attain experience and knowledge of a certain area other more integrative tasks might be a better use of their (hopefully more expensive) time. PS: Pushing 60. My eyesight now requires correction for close work but most other functions seem to be ok.
- chrisbennet 10y ago
  "I suspect that programming ability will also show a steep decline, but I wonder how big." I'm only 36 [1]. I wonder about the above. I could crank out more code when I was younger but I couldn't crank out as many solutions as I do now. [1] in hexadecimal ;-)
  - jacobsenscott 10y ago
    That's exactly it. An experienced programmer finishes tasks without writing a crap ton of code. A new grad cranks out zillions of lines, tons of technical debt, and gets very little done. Line count is inversely proportional to ability, to a certain limit. There is no steep decline in programming ability after 35, or 40, or 50. There is often a steep decline in interest. There are many interesting things to do in the world, and people naturally gravitate to new things after doing one thing for 10, 20, or 30 years. As long as the interest is there your programming ability can improve pretty much indefinitely.
- jacobsenscott 10y ago
  I'm a much better programmer at 40 than I was at 35, and I was much better at 35 than I was when I graduated with a CS degree. Steadily improving people skills are as much a part of that as steadily improving programming skills.
dleslie 10y ago
Relevant Research: http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/03/06/0956797614567339.abstract http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/03/06/095679761456... Edit: Free Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441622/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441622/
kyberias 10y ago
This was not a guide. It was more like a bunch of notes.
- blahshaw 10y ago
  Agreed. There isn't much actionable advice here.
amelius 10y ago
Probably the best thing to do right now is to do genotyping, for example at 23andme, and determine the nutrition you need to grow old in a healthy way. See e.g. [1]. Also probably a good idea is to store mesenchymal stem cells in a bank, which could turn out to be useful later in life [2] [1] https://www.nutrahacker.com/ https://www.nutrahacker.com/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11829994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11829994
- criddell 10y ago
  That sounds pretty cool. Can you give me an example of the things a site like nutrahacker can tell me?
  - amelius 10y ago
    I'm not an expert. But basically what 23andme tells you are what parts of your DNA deviate from the reference genome. If you have certain mutations in certain genes, then those genes (which correspond to enzymes) have a defect: the corresponding enzymes may not work as expected. For example, if 23andme tells you that you have a defect in a gene called BCMO1 (which encodes an enzyme that converts carotenes into retinol), then Nutrahacker could tell you that you might benefit from taking a retinol supplement. (The general case is more complicated than described here, as most genes may not be hacked around by adding nutrition directly, so a more careful approach is needed). There is a lot of focus on the link between mental disorders and nutrition. For example, people with depression, anxiety, and autism have been helped by addressing their nutritional needs. In some cases, these disorders may be "late-onset disorders", they appear later in life. So even if you have no disorder right now, it might still be a good idea to optimize your diet.
- elwell 10y ago
  On [1], that "Connect With 23andMe" button is terrifying. A "Login With Facebook" but accesses your DNA file. Especially given the hacky appearance of the site (still using Bluehost default favicon, etc.).
brlewis 10y ago
tl;dr version: For seeing tiny electronic parts despite nearsightedness, get a desktop or head-mounted magnifier. For soldering despite hand tremors, support your forearms, work on upper body strength, and get a fume extractor to maintain high oxygen levels. For general cognitive skills, do mental exercise.
- throwanem 10y ago
  I can't overstate the value of a desk-mounted magnifier. Even just one hacked together from an old lamp arm and some Radio Shack leftovers makes a night-and-day difference in the ease of soldering work.

98 points by szczys 10y ago

I wonder whether reading a ton helps; I have the suspicion that it does. Alan Kay sounds extremely sharp for his age, as does Don Knuth, and pretty much most intellectuals. But I still would want to know what's the best activity to keep the mind sharp. Chess grandmasters show a decline at about 35 if I recall correctly. I suspect that programming ability will also show a steep decline, but I wonder how big. I'll keep an eye on Torvalds and Carmack because I don't think they'll give up programming as they get older.

keithpeter 10y ago
"I'll keep an eye on Torvalds and Carmack because I don't think they'll give up programming as they get older." Torvalds is just a lad. Good heavens. Seriously, does he not mainly manage the project and use his encyclopedic knowledge of the kernel and its functions to keep the garden clean? Or is he still bashing out pages of gnarly C?? My point being that as people attain experience and knowledge of a certain area other more integrative tasks might be a better use of their (hopefully more expensive) time. PS: Pushing 60. My eyesight now requires correction for close work but most other functions seem to be ok.
chrisbennet 10y ago
"I suspect that programming ability will also show a steep decline, but I wonder how big." I'm only 36 [1]. I wonder about the above. I could crank out more code when I was younger but I couldn't crank out as many solutions as I do now. [1] in hexadecimal ;-)
- jacobsenscott 10y ago
  That's exactly it. An experienced programmer finishes tasks without writing a crap ton of code. A new grad cranks out zillions of lines, tons of technical debt, and gets very little done. Line count is inversely proportional to ability, to a certain limit. There is no steep decline in programming ability after 35, or 40, or 50. There is often a steep decline in interest. There are many interesting things to do in the world, and people naturally gravitate to new things after doing one thing for 10, 20, or 30 years. As long as the interest is there your programming ability can improve pretty much indefinitely.
jacobsenscott 10y ago
I'm a much better programmer at 40 than I was at 35, and I was much better at 35 than I was when I graduated with a CS degree. Steadily improving people skills are as much a part of that as steadily improving programming skills.

dleslie 10y ago

Relevant Research: http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/03/06/0956797614567339.abstract http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/03/06/095679761456... Edit: Free Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441622/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441622/

kyberias 10y ago

This was not a guide. It was more like a bunch of notes.

blahshaw 10y ago
Agreed. There isn't much actionable advice here.

amelius 10y ago

Probably the best thing to do right now is to do genotyping, for example at 23andme, and determine the nutrition you need to grow old in a healthy way. See e.g. [1]. Also probably a good idea is to store mesenchymal stem cells in a bank, which could turn out to be useful later in life [2] [1] https://www.nutrahacker.com/ https://www.nutrahacker.com/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11829994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11829994

criddell 10y ago
That sounds pretty cool. Can you give me an example of the things a site like nutrahacker can tell me?
- amelius 10y ago
  I'm not an expert. But basically what 23andme tells you are what parts of your DNA deviate from the reference genome. If you have certain mutations in certain genes, then those genes (which correspond to enzymes) have a defect: the corresponding enzymes may not work as expected. For example, if 23andme tells you that you have a defect in a gene called BCMO1 (which encodes an enzyme that converts carotenes into retinol), then Nutrahacker could tell you that you might benefit from taking a retinol supplement. (The general case is more complicated than described here, as most genes may not be hacked around by adding nutrition directly, so a more careful approach is needed). There is a lot of focus on the link between mental disorders and nutrition. For example, people with depression, anxiety, and autism have been helped by addressing their nutritional needs. In some cases, these disorders may be "late-onset disorders", they appear later in life. So even if you have no disorder right now, it might still be a good idea to optimize your diet.
elwell 10y ago
On [1], that "Connect With 23andMe" button is terrifying. A "Login With Facebook" but accesses your DNA file. Especially given the hacky appearance of the site (still using Bluehost default favicon, etc.).

brlewis 10y ago

tl;dr version: For seeing tiny electronic parts despite nearsightedness, get a desktop or head-mounted magnifier. For soldering despite hand tremors, support your forearms, work on upper body strength, and get a fume extractor to maintain high oxygen levels. For general cognitive skills, do mental exercise.

throwanem 10y ago
I can't overstate the value of a desk-mounted magnifier. Even just one hacked together from an old lamp arm and some Radio Shack leftovers makes a night-and-day difference in the ease of soldering work.