I think a lot of being "set in our ways" has to do with not accepting that we might be wrong about something, or that we might not fully understand something. As we age, we like to believe we know things and feel certain of the way things are. As an infant, we quickly learn about gravity and come to accept that it pulls things to the ground. We put our life in the hands of that belief when we learn to walk. When we start making decisions in life, we like to believe that we know enough to understand everything involved.

The older we age, the more we seem to be driven to find answers to things we don't understand. When we find answers that seem to fit we find comfort in locking them in place as pure fact, since they make future decisions that much easier. Children know they don't know, and therefore are more open to learning, growing, and changing. Keeping this process going as we age involves looking objectively at everything and never accepting one answer as the only answer.

I've already noticed myself being locked into a particular way: I've been anti-social my entire life and I grew to accept that. I was happy with it, and it didn't bother me. But recently I realized that the one thing I'm not good at should be the thing I work hardest at improving, otherwise how can I continue to grow in life? Children are playful because they're constantly curious, constantly asking questions. Hackers maintain this curiosity, this questioning mentality, which is exactly why they're the ones at the frontier of so many emerging technologies.

I'm only 26, so I'll just have to wait and see if my thinking is correct. :)