I should also say that the 50 and 60 year old hackers I encounter at hacker spaces or in the course of my work are usually some of the most incredibly impressiv

I should also say that the 50 and 60 year old hackers I encounter at hacker spaces or in the course of my work are usually some of the most incredibly impressive people I ever encounter. I learned everything I know about analog electronics from a retired electrical engineer -- and I am vastly better at it from an intuitive side than anyone in my age group I've talked to. And I'm not even an EE; I only ever took two courses in the field (introduction, and microcontroller lab). Meanwhile, he's building state-of-the-art electron microscope accelerators and x-ray detectors in his garage. At the same time, he is not a fan of programming, and happily finds 20 somethings to deal with that stuff for him. Moral of that story -- do what you've spent your life developing the skills to do, and extend from there instead of trying to start from scratch. It's hard to start over at 60 or 70. It's not nearly as hard to push forward from where you are.