
Our physiological processes become increasingly simple as we age - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/68/context/the-real-secret-of-youth-is-complexity-rp
======
throwaway713
I'm in my late twenties and increasingly worry about things like this. I
sometimes wonder if my best "thinking days" are already behind me. Business
sense and practicality (i.e. "wisdom") still seem to be increasing with time,
yet I can't shake the feeling that understanding highly complex or novel
topics is going to become vastly more difficult over the next few decades. For
instance, if I wanted to learn homotopy type theory, would this have been
easier five years ago, or will it be easier five years from now? It's well
known that the number of neural synapses in the human brain decreases by
almost an order of magnitude over a lifetime. I can accept that my body will
degrade physically, but psychologically, I have a hard time stomaching the
idea that my mental faculties are likely to erode as well. Hopefully exercise
and eating well are enough to at least delay this as long as possible.

~~~
ergothus
I'm in my early forties, and I've been having the same worries you list the
whole time.

And the answer (for me, so far) is....it's complicated.

I definitely think I have a harder time processing new ideas. OTOH, I have a
lot more context to connect them to, so I feel like I end up with a better
understanding when I DO get them. I also have a wider perspective to decide
WHAT I want to spend my precious time learning. When I do learn something, I'm
less likely to think it's the answer to everything, while I'm still able to
get excited and enjoy how much easier this makes many of my tasks.

And it's really hard for me to say how much is REALLY having a harder time
grasping new ideas, and how much is a mix of (1) that additional context,
which makes it harder/longer before I feel the sense that I truly "get" it (2)
the overwhelming sense of how many things I DON'T know that makes it feel like
"I'm not learning like I used to".

Docker has been on my list to learn for ~4 years, even though I've used it
indirectly for most of that time, for example, but it's not that I haven't
been learning new concepts in that time - I've just not been able to find free
time where Docker has been on the top of my list. Kubernetes shows up on HN,
and I've not done more than googled the general idea. Are these omissions
because I don't have the capability to learn as well, or because I've got a
very full schedule and mental web of connections to fit them into? No way to
be sure - I don't know of any way to quantify them.

I try to make sure that I end each week being able to say I learned something
new, and while those bits are often small, they are also often significant in
my day-to-day.

Also, don't discount the impacts of physical decay on the psychological. Being
unable to sit comfortably for long stretches, the wear and tear of a million
tiny aches - they may as much to blame for psychological limitations from age
as any direct neurological degradation.

~~~
empath75
I’m 40 and it’s less that I can’t learn new ideas and it’s more that I have
fairly settled ideas about how the world works and it’s hard for me to fully
integrate new concepts without relearning a lot of other things at the same
time.

I can learn new things as well as I could before, it just takes a bit of
effort to clear space for it, as it were.

~~~
Izkata
That you used the word " _re_ learn" responding to a comment that mentions
docker kinda hits it exactly for me: it's hard to get excited about a new way
to do the same old thing, whereas when younger you don't yet have enough
understanding/experience for it to have reached "same old thing" status.

------
bellerose
I think fasting is a process helping me against the aging peril. I'm not
convinced if it will help me live longer (if nothing else goes wrong) but I
can say my focus is increased and compared if I ate 2-3 meals per day. I'm
skeptical if fasting triggers cells into the claimed "garbage collect" process
or if my focus is just a hunter gather sense of I'm in danger from low
calories kicking in. I assume endurance exercise is the best for the mind. I
doubt non-physical games directed at improving thinking really help at all.
The only supplement I've had benefit with is fish oil.

~~~
kiba
How do people know if their focus increases as opposed to a placebo
intervention?

~~~
hvidgaard
Have you ever been so hungry that you cannot concentrate on something
difficult? Once you master fasting, you don't get to that point anymore.

Does it increase focus overall? I have no idea.

~~~
avinium
I'm dieting at the moment (mainly trimming down after Christmas, and making
some room for a winter bulk routine).

Quite a few times, I've been so hungry that it interfered with my thinking. I
had to eat _something_ to get my focus back. Currently sub-10% body fat and a
pretty seasoned dieter, so I think I have a fairly good feeling for what's
real "hunger" and what's just "craving food".

In 2 weeks I'll switch to a weekly 36 hour fast, but I have no idea how I'm
going to deal with the hunger pangs affecting concentration. Maybe, as you
say, it is something you can train yourself out of.

~~~
hvidgaard
When you feel that way, it's because your blood sugar is low - your body i
quite literally out of fuel. Once you adapt to not constantly providing an
easy source of carbohydrates, it will activate other metabolic pathways.
That's when you can go for an extended period without food.

If you want a softer landing, I recommend the 16+8 fasting for a week before
diving into multi day fasting. You eat at the latest at 20 (8pm), and not
until 12 (12am) the next day. It will take some adapting, but it's better than
the headache inducing "withdrawals" you'll feel jumping headfirst into 36h
fasting.

------
KineticLensman
I'm almost 60. I trained as a s/w engineer / coder in the 1980s and then
transitioned in the 90s into a customer-facing consultancy role with good
domain knowledge. Here are some specific observations on cognitive / corporate
skills and how mine have varied, YMMV

I definitely have more work 'wisdom' and can often spot problems that are not
obvious to younger colleagues and even offer workable solutions, albeit not
usually in the low level technologies.

I have massively improved self-confidence that sometimes gets me through
situations where my own knowledge / competencies are lacking.

I can still learn, e.g. picking up C# and Visual Studio as a hobbyist to
implement a Lisp interpreter [0] (I started six weeks ago and am on step 8 of
9 now, working on it in the evenings and rainy weekends). However, I think
that it takes me longer to learn than it would have done once. I am definitely
slower at navigating user interfaces, especially jumping immediately to a
specific but not often used menu item. Younger me would have gone straight
there.

Improved search tools / repositories of online information make up for poorer
memory of language syntax and APIs. I don't now have access to the code I
first wrote to check it's complexity.

Looking at documents I wrote several years ago, I don't think my vocabulary
and writing skills have declined significantly.

I have to continually remind myself not to be too dogmatic, especially where
my knowledge is potentially out of date, or where I realise that my improved
self confidence is masking the fact that I am actually wrong.

[0]
[https://github.com/kanaka/mal/blob/master/process/guide.md](https://github.com/kanaka/mal/blob/master/process/guide.md)

------
SolaceQuantum
Much of the advice in the article boils down to keep doing new things, and
exposing yourself to new experiences- physical, mental. Significant to me is
how little the comments here speak about the note on social groups. It
emphasizes a diverse, robust social group. Do I know that many people not in
tech? How would I do that?

