4 ms·

Being an adult is based on biological development, not whether you can drink or buy weed.

theshrike79 4y ago
What name would you give to the point where you have all the rights and opportunities of adults if adult is not the correct term?
- AntoniusBlock 4y ago
  Adult is the correct term. I just don't think we should base adulthood on nebulous things like the ability to drink alcohol, smoke weed or rent hotel rooms, but rather to put a bigger emphasis on biology.
  - Joker_vD 4y ago
    Which brings us back to the original point: why are there those arbitrary restrictions put on biologically adult people?
    - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
      I don't know. Ask your law-makers. I live in a country where you can drink alcohol at 16 as long as you're accompanied by an adult, for example. Then at 18 (when you're legally considered an adult), you can buy and drink your own alcohol on your own. Americans tend to coddle their young adults too much. Maybe it's their puritan heritage.
      - theshrike79 4y ago
        Dunno about coddling. They can drive a 4 ton "truck" and join the military to kill people before they're legally allowed to drink alcohol :D
Macha 4y ago
What aspect of biological development are we talking about? Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Even if you want a biological standard, there's still plenty of subjectivity and many of these markers are quite a bit earlier or later than people would be comfortable with. Given that, I think it's fine to focus instead on legal or social aspects of adulthood. And full legal adulthood in the US has been 21 for some time and it seems to me that like my country, the social definition of adulthood is the end of full time education (including in my lifetime undergraduate education being considered an extension of childhood education)
- AntoniusBlock 4y ago
  Average everything out and you'll get a number close to 18 which is the typical adult age in most countries. >Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Let's say 15 >Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Let's say 18 >Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Let's say 25 The average of 15, 18, and 25 is 19.3
  - verall 4y ago
    Why would an average rather than max make any sense?
    - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
      I think it'd make more sense because we're taking in different developmental factors together.

What name would you give to the point where you have all the rights and opportunities of adults if adult is not the correct term?

AntoniusBlock 4y ago
Adult is the correct term. I just don't think we should base adulthood on nebulous things like the ability to drink alcohol, smoke weed or rent hotel rooms, but rather to put a bigger emphasis on biology.
- Joker_vD 4y ago
  Which brings us back to the original point: why are there those arbitrary restrictions put on biologically adult people?
  - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
    I don't know. Ask your law-makers. I live in a country where you can drink alcohol at 16 as long as you're accompanied by an adult, for example. Then at 18 (when you're legally considered an adult), you can buy and drink your own alcohol on your own. Americans tend to coddle their young adults too much. Maybe it's their puritan heritage.
    - theshrike79 4y ago
      Dunno about coddling. They can drive a 4 ton "truck" and join the military to kill people before they're legally allowed to drink alcohol :D

Macha 4y ago

What aspect of biological development are we talking about? Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Even if you want a biological standard, there's still plenty of subjectivity and many of these markers are quite a bit earlier or later than people would be comfortable with. Given that, I think it's fine to focus instead on legal or social aspects of adulthood. And full legal adulthood in the US has been 21 for some time and it seems to me that like my country, the social definition of adulthood is the end of full time education (including in my lifetime undergraduate education being considered an extension of childhood education)

AntoniusBlock 4y ago
Average everything out and you'll get a number close to 18 which is the typical adult age in most countries. >Sexual development, ability to bear children? Mid teens for most, earlier for some. Let's say 15 >Completed puberty, full height? Mid to late teens. Let's say 18 >Finished the fastest phase of brain development? Mid-20s. Let's say 25 The average of 15, 18, and 25 is 19.3
- verall 4y ago
  Why would an average rather than max make any sense?
  - AntoniusBlock 4y ago
    I think it'd make more sense because we're taking in different developmental factors together.