4 ms·

Fluid intelligence peaks by the early 20s and then declines with age, so "age bias" is rational. When the law mandates non-economic behavior, some people will i

Fluid intelligence peaks by the early 20s and then declines with age, so "age bias" is rational. When the law mandates non-economic behavior, some people will ignore the law.

__z 11y ago
From what I have experienced personally the older members of the team are often the most valuable.
cousin_it 11y ago
Society should care for all its members. If that's "non-economic behavior", so be it.
beat 11y ago
Come tell us that story again in 20 years.
- Bostonian 11y ago
  I am in my 40s and think I was probably smarter in my 20s. What is your point?
  - beat 11y ago
    I'm 50 and I'm far smarter than I was in my 20s. I find that's true of most people who keep their mind sharp and don't let life beat them down. edit: A lot of people are beaten down by the time they're in their 40s. They feel like failure and they've lost hope, or they're stuck in a game of Prisoner's Dilemma. Those people aren't as smart as they were back when they were making the mistakes that led to their sorry state.
sebular 11y ago
Fluid intelligence is a valuable characteristic for engineers, but so is experience. It's great to be able to learn quickly and react to a changing environment, but it's also great to be able to draw on past experiences to predict and preempt future challenges. What isn't great is a lack of variety. Why would you want everybody on your team to be the same type of person? You want everyone's abilities to be complementary, not identical.
MattGrommes 11y ago
Even if that's true (citation needed), "fluid intelligence" isn't the end-all of important intelligence at work. You need people who aren't distracted by the newest shiny reinvention of some old thing. You need mastery, which can only be gained by time in the trenches.
- Bostonian 11y ago
  From the Wikipedia, which has references: 'Fluid intelligence, like reaction time, typically peaks in young adulthood and then steadily declines. This decline may be related to local atrophy of the brain in the right cerebellum. Other researchers have suggested that a lack of practice, along with age-related changes in the brain may contribute to the decline.'
learc83 11y ago
Rapid mental decline with age is largely a myth. Many of the intelligence studies that this myth were based on have been debunked. They were done in the 60s and compared young college students with a random sample of older people. More recent studies have shown that, barring disease, there isn't a noticeable cognitive decline until well past 65 because experience more than makes up for declining abilities. While, for most people there isn't a noticeable decline, some studies do show older people take slightly longer to make decisions, but the decisions are usually better/more accurate. However, this isn't noticeable in all but the most extreme situations (top tier competitive chess for example). Newer research shows that this extra time is probably a combination of conscious choice to trade speed for accuracy, and more available information to sort through.

Fluid intelligence peaks by the early 20s and then declines with age, so "age bias" is rational. When the law mandates non-economic behavior, some people will ignore the law.

__z 11y ago

From what I have experienced personally the older members of the team are often the most valuable.

cousin_it 11y ago

Society should care for all its members. If that's "non-economic behavior", so be it.

beat 11y ago

Come tell us that story again in 20 years.

Bostonian 11y ago
I am in my 40s and think I was probably smarter in my 20s. What is your point?
- beat 11y ago
  I'm 50 and I'm far smarter than I was in my 20s. I find that's true of most people who keep their mind sharp and don't let life beat them down. edit: A lot of people are beaten down by the time they're in their 40s. They feel like failure and they've lost hope, or they're stuck in a game of Prisoner's Dilemma. Those people aren't as smart as they were back when they were making the mistakes that led to their sorry state.

sebular 11y ago

Fluid intelligence is a valuable characteristic for engineers, but so is experience. It's great to be able to learn quickly and react to a changing environment, but it's also great to be able to draw on past experiences to predict and preempt future challenges. What isn't great is a lack of variety. Why would you want everybody on your team to be the same type of person? You want everyone's abilities to be complementary, not identical.

MattGrommes 11y ago

Even if that's true (citation needed), "fluid intelligence" isn't the end-all of important intelligence at work. You need people who aren't distracted by the newest shiny reinvention of some old thing. You need mastery, which can only be gained by time in the trenches.

Bostonian 11y ago
From the Wikipedia, which has references: 'Fluid intelligence, like reaction time, typically peaks in young adulthood and then steadily declines. This decline may be related to local atrophy of the brain in the right cerebellum. Other researchers have suggested that a lack of practice, along with age-related changes in the brain may contribute to the decline.'

learc83 11y ago

Rapid mental decline with age is largely a myth. Many of the intelligence studies that this myth were based on have been debunked. They were done in the 60s and compared young college students with a random sample of older people. More recent studies have shown that, barring disease, there isn't a noticeable cognitive decline until well past 65 because experience more than makes up for declining abilities. While, for most people there isn't a noticeable decline, some studies do show older people take slightly longer to make decisions, but the decisions are usually better/more accurate. However, this isn't noticeable in all but the most extreme situations (top tier competitive chess for example). Newer research shows that this extra time is probably a combination of conscious choice to trade speed for accuracy, and more available information to sort through.