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> It is likely related to the limited capacity of the human brain I really doubt this. It is likely limited to, "why change when what I did got me here so far"

> It is likely related to the limited capacity of the human brain I really doubt this. It is likely limited to, "why change when what I did got me here so far". That and the belief that they'll die sooner than later anyway so why bother. Once you took away the idea that people will die and remain healthy in all ways - I think you'll see folks be much more open to adopting change at later stages in life. I see this with many people I know who are in their 60s. They're like, "Eh, it's too late. Gonna die sooner than later anyway." It's only the ones who think they're gonna live at least another 10 years (and realize how long that is) actually are open to changing.

john_moscow 5y ago
I think, it's more gradual. The older you are, the more effort it takes to learn new things. Most people eventually get frustrated and give up. A few that don't, show much better results compared to their peers. But I doubt they could outcompete an equally determined youngster. One notable example would be moving to a country with a different language. School-age kids become native speakers in terms of years with little effort, while doing it in your 60s requires tremendous effort to get the most basic communication going.
- mahkeiro 5y ago
  School kids are forced to become bilingual. Every single interaction they have during the day must be in another language. The 60s year old something has most of the time limited interaction during the day with the other language. That's the main reason. A simple example, in my area we have multiple "international school" teaching only in english. I can tell you that most of the kids are far to be called bilingual in French. The other day I was in front of a group of them trying to see who would be able to order in French at the Starbuck. And this is not because they don't have French lessons, they have plenty. One of my friend is born and raised in Switzerland but only attended english schools and lived in an english speaking family, his level of French is far far from being bilingual.
- mellavora 5y ago
  > The older you are, the more effort it takes to learn new things. My experience has been the opposite. Learning is also a skill, and at this point I am extremely accomplished at it. > School-age kids become native speakers in terms of years with little effort Often repeated, but doubtful. School-age children burn through incredible amounts of energy per body mass. There is almost nothing they do which is "little effort". Probably originated because children (and adults) learn best through play, which is biologically how animals are designed to learn. But somehow "play" doesn't count as "effort"
WalterBright 5y ago
Getting older definitely changes the calculus on what kinds of investments are worth while. For example, if I'm 10 years old, and invest 10 years into learning the guitar, it will pay off for the next 50 years. For a 60 year old, investing all those hours into the guitar offers comparatively little payback, even if the 60 yo learns at the same rate as the 10 yo.
Narann 5y ago
> why change when what I did got me here so far Not that much. Brain is a rolling learning machine. When you are young (less than 15), your brain can grab and store a lot of information and instinctively understand complex concepts without even thinking about it. Those information will become the foundation of the rest of your life. Of course you will learn new things, but those things can be learns easily depending on those foundations. When you reach the second part of your life, new things get harder to learn. You can learn few specific things if you spend time on it (often this learn is comparison-based, you compare with what you already know instead on instinctively understanding the core concept, this is a big difference between very young and adult peoples), but not the hundreds on new things coming around. I think the humble behavior is to actually consider new things are hard to understand and you can't learn everything, so you have to choose the new things to learn wisely.

john_moscow 5y ago

I think, it's more gradual. The older you are, the more effort it takes to learn new things. Most people eventually get frustrated and give up. A few that don't, show much better results compared to their peers. But I doubt they could outcompete an equally determined youngster. One notable example would be moving to a country with a different language. School-age kids become native speakers in terms of years with little effort, while doing it in your 60s requires tremendous effort to get the most basic communication going.

mahkeiro 5y ago
School kids are forced to become bilingual. Every single interaction they have during the day must be in another language. The 60s year old something has most of the time limited interaction during the day with the other language. That's the main reason. A simple example, in my area we have multiple "international school" teaching only in english. I can tell you that most of the kids are far to be called bilingual in French. The other day I was in front of a group of them trying to see who would be able to order in French at the Starbuck. And this is not because they don't have French lessons, they have plenty. One of my friend is born and raised in Switzerland but only attended english schools and lived in an english speaking family, his level of French is far far from being bilingual.
mellavora 5y ago
> The older you are, the more effort it takes to learn new things. My experience has been the opposite. Learning is also a skill, and at this point I am extremely accomplished at it. > School-age kids become native speakers in terms of years with little effort Often repeated, but doubtful. School-age children burn through incredible amounts of energy per body mass. There is almost nothing they do which is "little effort". Probably originated because children (and adults) learn best through play, which is biologically how animals are designed to learn. But somehow "play" doesn't count as "effort"

WalterBright 5y ago

Getting older definitely changes the calculus on what kinds of investments are worth while. For example, if I'm 10 years old, and invest 10 years into learning the guitar, it will pay off for the next 50 years. For a 60 year old, investing all those hours into the guitar offers comparatively little payback, even if the 60 yo learns at the same rate as the 10 yo.

Narann 5y ago

> why change when what I did got me here so far Not that much. Brain is a rolling learning machine. When you are young (less than 15), your brain can grab and store a lot of information and instinctively understand complex concepts without even thinking about it. Those information will become the foundation of the rest of your life. Of course you will learn new things, but those things can be learns easily depending on those foundations. When you reach the second part of your life, new things get harder to learn. You can learn few specific things if you spend time on it (often this learn is comparison-based, you compare with what you already know instead on instinctively understanding the core concept, this is a big difference between very young and adult peoples), but not the hundreds on new things coming around. I think the humble behavior is to actually consider new things are hard to understand and you can't learn everything, so you have to choose the new things to learn wisely.