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Joined: Aug 2005
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Clearly we accumulate more knowldege with each passing day. What I am wondering is do we process information more efficiently as we get older, and is there a zenith at which we decline? I am on the southern side of 30. Only in the past few months have I found a passion for math and physics. Yet this has triggered, in me, a frenzied hunt for information. How do some older scientists keep their passions from spoiling? Any thoughts would be most welcome.
Sincerely,


"My God, it's full of stars!" -2010
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Depends upon the individual. Some artists hit their creative peaks in their 80s or 90s.

"Only in the past few months have I found a passion for math and physics"

Welcome to the brave new world.


Predict the "end of science" at your peril!
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How do some older scientists keep their passions from spoiling? Any thoughts would be most welcome.

I am an old guy but not a scientist. Speaking for old folks that do keep their interest alive my opinion is that they actively search for questions in standard dogma that appears to leave open room for inquiry. They may be wrong but the effort to resolve the issue keeps them on the path to research and logical deduction.

There is a mystery in everything, thank heavens.
Jim Wood

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Define "older"?

Let me answer by quoting Voltaire.

When we have lost everything, including hope,
life becomes a disgrace and death a duty.
- from Merope

For some of us ... hope = passion.

And for those of you that have not read Voltaire. Do the planet a favour ... do so!


DA Morgan
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When I was very young ... say age 14 and younger, I could regularly multiply 3 digit by 2 digit numbers. Nothing tricky...it was time consuming, but it saved me a lot of time. In fact, while I was skeptical of mathematics (multiplication) I had never met a single person who could even come close to me in doing simple math in the head. Now, in my mid-40s I find myself unable to do much math in my head. I can still do approximations, but I can't do the exact stuff I used to do.

Maybe other people are different. I do have some ability now, but it's greatly atrophied. I thought I read somewhere that most mathematicians do their best work before their 30s. OTOH, I thought I read somewhere that a lot of writers don't get fame until after their 30s.

I don't know that I'm a good example, but I do know that I sometimes have a fear that I'm suffering from alzheimers or something. I forget stuff like crazy. I write notes and then missplace them. I have assistants at work and while they're really smart and efficient, I often feel like they spend substantial time helping me remember stuff that I might swear I've never heard the first time. "Uh... it's time for the meeting."

"What meeting?"

"The one you scheduled last week."

I look at my calendar ... there is indeed a meeting scheduled...it's for the following day ... and it's in my own handwriting...so I have talked with several people...arranged a meeting...everyone is waiting for me...and I'm the only one who marked it in my calendar with the wrong date.

I'm a little scared sometimes that I might really be in the early stages of something. Mostly I'm just running around up and down the stairs ... I have to do my research with different groups. OTOH I've heard that stress can produce a similar effect.

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As we get older, time seems to pass faster. Possibly because our lives are filled with things to do. When we are younger, we are much more likely to be bored because are life is not as full. As a younger man, I would work on a programing project 16 hours and not be tired of it. I can't do that today. six to 8 hours is my maximum. But the code I produce today is much more complex and complete.

I think we we take our talents and tools and develop them into more complex talents and tools as we age. The best combination is often a young person with the fire and the raw talent hooked up with an older person that appreciates those abilities, but who also has the wisdom to direct those abilities to project completion, and then has something worthwhile when they are done.

We don't often get a chance to have a mentor. But that is very much like what I mean.


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Great replies folks. DA, I am defining "older" as not to insult anyone's age or abilities. I am seeking responses from those who have noticed either changes or fluctuations in their "acumen efficency" over the duration of their life - regardless of how old one actually is. Of course you are correct, "older" is vague and relative. Have you, DA, experienced a change in ability to recall information or to compute information as you have aged (whether for the better or worse)? Have there been periods of your life when you more aptly experienced or mastered prolific understanding or apprehended atlantean achievements?
Sincerely,


"My God, it's full of stars!" -2010
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I hated math when I was younger, and I still hate it. I have always loved science and technology and art.

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Ageing is forever. It happens to us all. It affects us all. The Worlds population is aging.
Populations are ageing in Western countrys, notably in Japan and the UK. We have to live with it, accept it, ourselves included.
Goverments need to view ageing as social lifelong phenomenon, to be broadly addressed, - not as a 'sweep under the carpet' happening to individual aged persons.


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"You will never find a real Human being - Even in a mirror." ....Mike Kremer.



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