25 is ‘golden age’ for the ability to make random choices | Hacker News Reader

25 is ‘golden age’ for the ability to make random choices

exactlyscience.com

87 pointsmanojr23 comments

I'm 43 - now that I know that the ability to create random numbers could be an indication of having a heathy or youthful brain, I know have enough knowledge to fake this test.

If I'm ever asked to provide a string of random numbers by a cognitive scientist or a doctor, I'll be certain to do my best and then apply external randomness to my individual guesses.

For example, I'll take the last phrase the scientist says to me - "please give me list of five random numbers from one to 10 ", and I'll apply the number of letters in each word of the sentence to each of my individual numbers and then modulo the answer to fit the range.

That way, with my old-age-cleverness, I'll hopefully be able to simulate a 25 year old.

If you can, in real time, count the number of letters in each word of a spoken sentence and modulo the result with numbers you're coming up with yourself, I don't think you'd be faking your cognitive ability.

>That way, with my old-age-cleverness, I'll hopefully be able to simulate a 25 year old.

Yeah, just not in the "life prospects", health, stamina, and other departments...

Old age and cunning will always beat youth and bravery.

youth and stupidity haha

You can never be old and wise if you are not young and stupid

I'm set for life!

I was just thinking many have written their life time experiences, all I have to do is pick up the book and read then I'll be wise as well right? Seems it's cyclical the pattern why can't I skip the stupid mistakes. Parents try to tell you not to make the mistakes they made but inevitably you make the mistakes as well. Well I'm speaking for myself anyway. Oh well.

within certain parameters.

Reminds me of the Aaronson Oracle: http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nick/aaronson-oracle/

It's a simple algorithm to predict human-generated coin flips by exploiting our aversion to extremes.

55%, take that computer overlords.

Try it again with closed eyes. That worked for me to move the number to 50% and lower.

Here's a cached version: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

Aren't "look random to somebody else" and "be random" two totally different things?

How can they tell that 1234561234 is not the result of a 10 x random dice roll?

What's the probability of a real RNG being considered better/worse than a 25 year old?

Related Dilbert:

http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25

When I was 25, I made the choice to quit my job as a hw engineer and travel the world. After a year, I decided to do sw instead. Haven't looked back since.

It wasn't exactly a random decision, but I remember the question was as simple as, "Should I just do it...?"

Same, 25, quit job with MSFT, in Asia now.

Do you mind sharing why you did it and what you're up to now in Asia?

Mainly mine was, my true passions was in SW and I felt that I couldn't make a big enough impact through HW.

This makes an assumption that you are not living in poverty. More than age, I personally feel the need to have a sufficient bank balance, which can make you financially independent and empower you to do whatever the fuck you want!

About to hit 25 here, should I be worried or should I just start playing roulette more often?

I wish there was a online test from this article.

There is, but you would need to do some job and compare your results with those of the paper. Here it is: http://complexitycalculator.com/ At least for the binary sequence and the random grid tests it would give you your results.

This explains my brownian motion.

DoS'd :-(

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