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Comment by Pristina | Hacker News Reader

Caveat Emptor

Your dad has been around for 70 years. How has he not figured out not to trust a salesperson and do independent research or consult an expert (literally YOU, his son, one phone call away).

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A mix of stubborn dad syndrome and not wanting to "bother" me (even though of course it doesn't), shrug. I doubt my dad's stubbornness is the core problem here though, there are countless Americans being taken advantage of by our ISPs, stores like Best Buy, etc. on daily basis.

Reminds me of Ma Bell's descendants still renting out rotary telephones to their customers into the 2000's.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14838642/ns/technology_and_science...

People actually get more trusting as they age, putting them at even higher risk of behind taken advantage of.

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2013/01/trust-rises-age

Culturally speaking, I've noticed that older people tend to be much more trusting. I expect part of this is an expectation of mutual respect between parties -- effectively "why would they lie?". A lack of knowledge of the technology and an unwillingness to "be a burden" by asking someone more knowledgeable probably factor in too.

See also "why older people tend to get scammed more often than younger people"... certainly for the family members I've helped, all three of the above were factors to some degree.

Not everyone enjoys the task of performing extensive research, and perhaps a 70 year old might value their time doing something else? I've also met more than one 70+ year old person who was convinced that they understood how things worked, and to admit otherwise was to display weakness/lose credibility (despite that not being the case at all). The point is, what is obvious to you may not be obvious to others, and you have no idea why they chose the route they did.

So he decided not to do the research because it's not worth his time and therefore he made a suboptimal purchase.

He made his bed and lay in it. Im saving my tears.

> and perhaps a 70 year old might value their time doing something else?

They should be content with their inferior choices then.

> I've also met more than one 70+ year old person who was convinced that they understood how things worked, and to admit otherwise was to display weakness/lose credibility

These people deserve it.

Note, I certainly do think that there should be more regulation on lying salesmen, but these are kind of bad examples imo.

I hope in your old age you never have to interact with people as devoid of empathy as yourself.

I have empathy. I also have a brain, which I used to come to the conclusion that you either have self-agency and therefore you are liable to the consequences of your actions or you do not have self-agency. If a person chose to not do research, then he is liable to the consequences of his ignorance.

Neither of these are a property exclusive to old people though - why should I have empathy for people who mess up while they pretend to know everything?

Why should I have empathy for people who have chosen to invest their time in some other way? I do not have empathy for them just like I do not have empathy for people who have chosen to not do their homework and end up getting a low grade.

If I do end up being like that however, then I will fully deserve it. I can only hope that the people around me will try to put me in a straight path then.

Is it perhaps a skill that is lost with age? Everyday I see online posts made by old people that show a complete lack of critical thinking ability. These are all relatively successful people, I imagine they couldn't have made it so far in life without critical thinking.

And that raises the question, should people above a certain age stop being considered as adults and have their adult privileges taken away? Just like children who tend to lack critical thinking can't vote then why should people older than a certain age get to do it?

Note, this is not something that I necessarily agree with, especially because I know quite a few of old people (my ex-professors) who seem quite good with critical thinking.

If you want to ban people who can't think, add tests on thinking abilities. Age is a terrible proxy.

I totally agree, which is part of why I believe that age limitations on people who can vote is a bad idea.

Possibly because that person was supposed to be tech support, not sales. He came in with a problem, not looking for a purchase.

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