Indian man of 100 goes back to university for PhD

In a way, it makes more sense for an elder to get a PhD than someone in his youth.

More so for him than your average 21-year-old.

[1] By anyone's standards. Not "impressive for a 100 year old."

It doesn't sound like he's necessarily taking the place of anyone. I don't smell a lot of grant money in this kind of research, nor do I see a lot of equipment or lab space being required.

And, yes, research has value. If this fellow writes down what he knows, and what he finds out, people in the future will be able to read it. That's creating something of value. Would it be better if this hundred-year-old smart guy took all his knowledge to the grave?

Nowadays it's fashionable to think of all education, right up to the Ph.D. level, as a kind of jobs training program, but in fact the traditional point of the Ph.D. isn't to make yourself smarter. It's to make the world smarter by doing some original research and then publishing it.

While knowledge may have no intrinsic value, the act of learning does!

Exciting and satisfying your curiosity is one of the best things you to can do for your brain. And staying mentally healthy in old age is something very valuable. It's definitely better than just watching TV, playing cards or solving crossword puzzles. Learning is more comparable with traveling, but with a lot less stress for the (aged) body. And it's more interactive than just reading, and interactivity is very important, too.

"You're a real gold-mine of useless information, you know that, Beldin?" Silk said.

"There's no such thing as useless information, Kheldar," Beldin sniffed.

[0] David Eddings, the Mallereon book 5, The Seeress of Kell [...of all places]