[sonicdrink]

I see the value of experience, but as far as age relating to actual wisdom, I believe the two do not coincide in such a trend as they used to. Because of different exposures to different types of education (internet, books, friends, people with experience, family, etc), I believe the wisdom and maturity levels are too far a range to associate with much anymore. I recently turned 21, however most people that get to know me for more than a few minutes believe I'm at least 25 with how I act. All this being said, I still feel like a kid inside, and am crazy and wacky when the situation calls for a blank slate. I also have good intuition and am well-versed in many things, therefore I have more insight to many topics than a 32-year-old with a kid who still acts like they live out the Jersey Shore show.

[Psyphon]

As far as technology goes. I don't think we should be humbled by the amazing technology today itself, but we should be humbled to be living in a time of such great social change, mainly due to the technology of computers. WE were there to see it, when a 20GB hard drive was fucking huge, a 64-bit game system was state of the art, when touch screens were the shit, and whatever will follow. We should be humbled to have been born right at the beginning, when computer chips began to be used and integrated into society, and this is only the beginning. 70 years from now, we will be able to say, "I was one of the people that used facebook, had an ipod, and used the internet on a thick bulky laptop to find information...wow look how things have changed.

I think the same thing, but when I think it I think: I was there when cable came out, I was there when TV remotes and lan-line phones went wireless, I was there when the internet was released to the general populous, I was there when the first hard drives came out ... because before that our best option was cassette tapes (yes we used to store data on cassette tapes)

[aef8234]

I think the same thing, but when I think it I think: I was there when cable came out, I was there when TV remotes and lan-line phones went wireless, I was there when the internet was released to the general populous, I was there when the first hard drives came out ... because before that our best option was cassette tapes (yes we used to store data on cassette tapes)

Well being the bystander to change doesn't suddenly make you able to realize change itself, I mean, ask random the chemical makeup of what they're breathing, pretty sure it'll mostly be brain farts.

[Psyphon]

Well being the bystander to change doesn't suddenly make you able to realize change itself, I mean, ask random the chemical makeup of what they're breathing, pretty sure it'll mostly be brain farts.

Yeah .. but it's always interesting to think about "way a back when".

"when I was younger I walked uphill 2 miles in the snow both ways to school" (not really)

"when I started driving gas was only 67 cents a gallon, and I could fill my tank for 7 bucks" (really)

"when I started smoking I used to ride my bike up to the corner store and could give the clerk $2 and get a pack of smokes and a candy bar and he'd still give me change back" (really, and they didn't used to card us)

[aef8234]

Yeah .. but it's always interesting to think about "way a back when".

"when I was younger I walked uphill 2 miles in the snow both ways to school" (not really)

"when I started driving gas was only 67 cents a gallon, and I could fill my tank for 7 bucks" (really)

"when I started smoking I used to ride my bike up to the corner store and could give the clerk $2 and get a pack of smokes and a candy bar and he'd still give me change back" (really, and they didn't used to card us)

If this is wisdom, by that logic, all people who are all "book-smarts" are stupid.

[Psyphon]

If this is wisdom, by that logic, all people who are all "book-smarts" are stupid.

Naw .. this isn't wisdom. Just entertainment and remembrances.

[aef8234]

Naw .. this isn't wisdom. Just entertainment and remembrances.

"Back in my day, diaries talk!"

"Well, back in my day, diaries walk!"

"Orly? Wehl, bak in my dais diereees tok ohver da wohrld!"

[BusinessMan]

For the most part I don't see the value in old age. Yes they may have many years of experience, but they've become too slow and senile to be worth listening to. I've got two grandparents who live with me so I do have some experience with this.

That being said, there are some old people who I do listen to. The ones who are 70+ and still working despite the fact that they could've retired years ago. Obviously they did something right that they have a career that they love so much they don't want to retire. Those are the wise ones who should be listened to.

[INFJigsaw]

I decided to ask my 64 year old ENTJ dad about this. I asked him if he thought he was wiser now than at 21. He replied, "When I was 21 I thought I knew it all. As you get older and gain more life experiences you realise how much you don't know."

This reminded me of the following quote from Shakespeare:

"A fool thinks himself to be wise. A wiseman knows himself to be a fool."

[INFJigsaw]

Just wanted to add to my previous post to say that I think that when people are in their teens and early 20s, they are going through a phase of rejecting their parents' and elders' (who remind them of their parents) opinions and feeling very confident in their own views. This, I believe, is a very important stage to pass through because if you didn't, you would be forever like a child, always having to turn to your parents (or parent-like figures) for advice and not being able to stand on your own two feet.

But later, as you get older and become more secure in your ability to be independent, you start to become more willing to seek advice from 'elders' but this time, not as a child, but as a mature adult who is fully confident in his or her own ability to make decisions but who nevertheless is interested in hearing and taking into account the views of their parents and other 'elders'.

I think that this is what @the3rdpower is referring to when he says that he is now interested in the views of older people when he would have dismissed them before.