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Given our geriatric government, I could believe many of them do not regularly use phones. As of 2015, Senator Lindsey Graham claimed to have never sent an email

Given our geriatric government, I could believe many of them do not regularly use phones. As of 2015, Senator Lindsey Graham claimed to have never sent an email [0]. [0] https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/lindsey-graham-ive-never-sent-email-n319571 https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/lindsey-graham-ive-ne... Edit: median Senator age is 65 https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/aging-congress-boomers/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/aging-congress-boomers/

SoftTalker 3y ago
If I could change one thing about federal office eligibility it would be to add a mandatory retirement age of 65. That would go for elected office as well as agency and judicial appointments. There are too many old people set in their ways at the highest levels of governent who need to get out of the way. And I say that as someone who's less than a decade away from that age himself.
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  "set in their ways" == "have experience with life and don't agree with me" That said, some are just TOO old to do the job: Feinstein, for example.
- dehrmann 3y ago
  What's interesting is they can offer experience, and while some is still relevant (history rhymes), some isn't. They're also more likely to have mental acuity declines (Feinstein's had a few). They might also be less invested in long-term policies and more concerned with near-term, retiree-friendly policies. Or they could be a Jerry Brown who comes back without political ambitions, just wanting to do the right thing. Or you get a Ruth Bader Ginsburg whose lasting legacy was the overturn of Roe because she couldn't step down at 80.
- gentleman11 3y ago
  Enough of the ageism in tech
  - yarg 3y ago
    Cognitive decline is a real thing. Experience counts for a lot, but it doesn't help with creativity. One of the things in technology is that novel problems often require novel solutions - and most of us aren't Knuth. Beyond a point age counts against you more than it helps.
    - phpisthebest 3y ago
      I am going to guess you are in your 20's or 30's... I bet when you hit 50 you will be seeing the world differently
      - yarg 3y ago
        I'm as likely to complain about agism in sport as to change my position on this. The simple truth is that sometimes reality is shit, and none of us is immune to decay. We can't yet change the nature of aging, but there is value in wisdom and it does lead to people being pushed upwards in organisational hierarchies. But it's not a column - it's a tree, so there's also exponential decay in the number of people required. Meaning that the vast majority get pushed out not up. Look at C-levels, there's agism there as well - but the population isn't high enough to counteract the average trend at lower levels. Biology does not care about your feelings, eventually everyone ceases to function at a cellular level - this is gradual rather than sudden, it sneaks up on you with the men you used to be nipping at your heels, but surpassing you in the end. The same will happen to them one day. Sucks to be a meat machine. Just be glad you're in a field that depends on the mind rather than the body.
        flangola7 3y ago
        Your arguments and feelings on the topic don't really matter, discrimination against older employees is illegal.
        yarg 3y ago
        Discrimination on the grounds of age might be, discrimination on the grounds of competence is not.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- lostlogin 3y ago
  They are elected. People are choosing the old. As bad as it is in the US, the UK's House of Lords is next level.
  - phpisthebest 3y ago
    One of the biggest lies in modern society is that voting some how reflect the "will of the people" So much research proves this to be false, I am surprised people still assert it. Voting is probably the worst way pick a leader or representative, random selection would net better results
    - yarg 3y ago
      Voting systems can be improved, but somewhat problematically the people in a position to improve things are those who depend on the broken system.
    - lostlogin 3y ago
      > One of the biggest lies in modern society is that voting some how reflect the "will of the people" So much research proves this to be false, I am surprised people still assert it. As the joke goes, democracy is the least bad system we have tried. I’m not sure where you are but there are places that do it better than others, and while shitty situations still occur in the better systems, chucking the baby out with the bath water would be a mistake. Back to my point though, I can’t see any disagreement with the idea that US voters are picking old senators to represent them. Why is this happening?
      - phpisthebest 3y ago
        >>As the joke goes, democracy is the least bad system we have tried. This implies that the US system has been static since our founding. My position is that many of the problems we face as a nation today are directly or indirectly a result of modification to the foundations of our government replacing non-democratic checks with more democratic ones. Directly applicable here is the passage of the 17th amendment where by previously the State government choose their Senators, as the Senate was to be representative of the States not the people. Thus why there are equal numbers for every State. As a result of this democratic change in the government the people now have 2 houses in congress, and the State's have no representation at all. This also completely changed the power dynamic and effectively rendered the 10th and 9th amendments void
- pnw 3y ago
  65 is hardly old though, and the population of people over that age is only growing. You’d be better of having some kind of public service test every decade for everyone than an arbitrary age cutoff that is going to result in a lot of wasted human potential.
- robocat 3y ago
  > mandatory retirement age of 65 > too many old people set in their ways Surely we could find a more discriminating measure of competence than age?
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
It's one thing to accept a device as an emergency backup, and it's another thing to know whether the device and its user will be ready when that emergency comes. Will the firmware be updated? Will the user be familiar with its operation? Will it be incorporated into regular drills and practice scenarios?
wildzzz 3y ago
Graham has been office since before email became ubiquitous. He's always had an aide to handle that for him.
CPLX 3y ago
Another thing to know is that members of congress lie. Routinely, about matters big and small, for fun, for no reason, for personal gain, for amusement value, sometimes more then once in the same sentence. Members of congress who tell you they have never used email are lying. It's a nice thing to be able to say when someone asks them to produce email records. There's not a single one that doesn't have powerboy775X@gmail.com or whatever for when they need it, and I'm willing to bet on that. Except for maybe Feinstein. I'm not convinced she's aware of the internal combustion engine at this point.

SoftTalker 3y ago

If I could change one thing about federal office eligibility it would be to add a mandatory retirement age of 65. That would go for elected office as well as agency and judicial appointments. There are too many old people set in their ways at the highest levels of governent who need to get out of the way. And I say that as someone who's less than a decade away from that age himself.

AlbertCory 3y ago
"set in their ways" == "have experience with life and don't agree with me" That said, some are just TOO old to do the job: Feinstein, for example.
dehrmann 3y ago
What's interesting is they can offer experience, and while some is still relevant (history rhymes), some isn't. They're also more likely to have mental acuity declines (Feinstein's had a few). They might also be less invested in long-term policies and more concerned with near-term, retiree-friendly policies. Or they could be a Jerry Brown who comes back without political ambitions, just wanting to do the right thing. Or you get a Ruth Bader Ginsburg whose lasting legacy was the overturn of Roe because she couldn't step down at 80.
gentleman11 3y ago
Enough of the ageism in tech
- yarg 3y ago
  Cognitive decline is a real thing. Experience counts for a lot, but it doesn't help with creativity. One of the things in technology is that novel problems often require novel solutions - and most of us aren't Knuth. Beyond a point age counts against you more than it helps.
  - phpisthebest 3y ago
    I am going to guess you are in your 20's or 30's... I bet when you hit 50 you will be seeing the world differently
    - yarg 3y ago
      I'm as likely to complain about agism in sport as to change my position on this. The simple truth is that sometimes reality is shit, and none of us is immune to decay. We can't yet change the nature of aging, but there is value in wisdom and it does lead to people being pushed upwards in organisational hierarchies. But it's not a column - it's a tree, so there's also exponential decay in the number of people required. Meaning that the vast majority get pushed out not up. Look at C-levels, there's agism there as well - but the population isn't high enough to counteract the average trend at lower levels. Biology does not care about your feelings, eventually everyone ceases to function at a cellular level - this is gradual rather than sudden, it sneaks up on you with the men you used to be nipping at your heels, but surpassing you in the end. The same will happen to them one day. Sucks to be a meat machine. Just be glad you're in a field that depends on the mind rather than the body.
      - flangola7 3y ago
        Your arguments and feelings on the topic don't really matter, discrimination against older employees is illegal.
        yarg 3y ago
        Discrimination on the grounds of age might be, discrimination on the grounds of competence is not.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
lostlogin 3y ago
They are elected. People are choosing the old. As bad as it is in the US, the UK's House of Lords is next level.
- phpisthebest 3y ago
  One of the biggest lies in modern society is that voting some how reflect the "will of the people" So much research proves this to be false, I am surprised people still assert it. Voting is probably the worst way pick a leader or representative, random selection would net better results
  - yarg 3y ago
    Voting systems can be improved, but somewhat problematically the people in a position to improve things are those who depend on the broken system.
  - lostlogin 3y ago
    > One of the biggest lies in modern society is that voting some how reflect the "will of the people" So much research proves this to be false, I am surprised people still assert it. As the joke goes, democracy is the least bad system we have tried. I’m not sure where you are but there are places that do it better than others, and while shitty situations still occur in the better systems, chucking the baby out with the bath water would be a mistake. Back to my point though, I can’t see any disagreement with the idea that US voters are picking old senators to represent them. Why is this happening?
    - phpisthebest 3y ago
      >>As the joke goes, democracy is the least bad system we have tried. This implies that the US system has been static since our founding. My position is that many of the problems we face as a nation today are directly or indirectly a result of modification to the foundations of our government replacing non-democratic checks with more democratic ones. Directly applicable here is the passage of the 17th amendment where by previously the State government choose their Senators, as the Senate was to be representative of the States not the people. Thus why there are equal numbers for every State. As a result of this democratic change in the government the people now have 2 houses in congress, and the State's have no representation at all. This also completely changed the power dynamic and effectively rendered the 10th and 9th amendments void
pnw 3y ago
65 is hardly old though, and the population of people over that age is only growing. You’d be better of having some kind of public service test every decade for everyone than an arbitrary age cutoff that is going to result in a lot of wasted human potential.
robocat 3y ago
> mandatory retirement age of 65 > too many old people set in their ways Surely we could find a more discriminating measure of competence than age?

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

It's one thing to accept a device as an emergency backup, and it's another thing to know whether the device and its user will be ready when that emergency comes. Will the firmware be updated? Will the user be familiar with its operation? Will it be incorporated into regular drills and practice scenarios?

wildzzz 3y ago

Graham has been office since before email became ubiquitous. He's always had an aide to handle that for him.

CPLX 3y ago

Another thing to know is that members of congress lie. Routinely, about matters big and small, for fun, for no reason, for personal gain, for amusement value, sometimes more then once in the same sentence. Members of congress who tell you they have never used email are lying. It's a nice thing to be able to say when someone asks them to produce email records. There's not a single one that doesn't have powerboy775X@gmail.com or whatever for when they need it, and I'm willing to bet on that. Except for maybe Feinstein. I'm not convinced she's aware of the internal combustion engine at this point.