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Comment by firefoxman1 | Hacker News Reader

Dying is one of the most important things a person can do. I was in the airport last week sitting near a little fog-tornado machine and guess which age group was curious enough to go over to it and mess with it? Only the kids. The grumpy old men were angrily waiting for their flight, the stressed-out moms telling their kids to be quiet, and all the people my age were mesmerized by their phones.

Over time we get too world-weary and cynical. How many innovative startups that push us forward are started by people over 50, or even 40 for that matter?

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How much value -- how many stories, how many glimmers-of-an-idea, how many things-I-learned-growing-up-in-the-thirties are lost when an old person dies?

I wouldn't wish death on a single person.

> I wouldn't wish death on a single person.

I wouldn't either. I hope I didn't imply that. And the "grumpy old men" are just a stereotype I often see. My grandfather, for example, is the happiest (and wisest) man I know. But he isn't going to go start a company tomorrow that will revolutionise the way we communicate.

Can you really deny that the curiosity that children have is essential to society moving forward and staying youthful, and has to always be replenished?

I really think the reason why grumpy old men are grumpy is because they don't have the energy and capable bodies of youth. I think a 70 year old with the body and hormones of a healthy 20 year old will still party like it's the 60s.

Mental scar tissue is another issue too.

> But he isn't going to go start a company tomorrow that will revolutionise the way we communicate.

Maybe he won't do that because he thinks he doesn't have enough time left to properly grow such a company, to see it flourish and observe the impact it would have on the world? Maybe he doesn't have enough physical endurance and health to endure the challenges of being an enterpreneur? Or maybe his wisdom allows him to see that all of his ideas of 'revolutionizing the way we communicate' (assuming he ponders that problem) would not fare well if realized, and he didn't have the one that could work yet?

There are many possibilities here and the postulated lack of curiosity is just one of them.

I was in the airport last week sitting near a little fog-tornado machine and guess which age group was curious enough to go over to it and mess with it? Only the kids.

Maybe that's because we "grumpy old men" have seen the vortices elsewhere at other science museums and more than a few in real life? Maybe the kids weren't playing with their phones because they didn't have any?

Over time we get too world-weary and cynical.

The weariness is very much physical. As I've progressed into my 40s, I've had more and more difficulty finding the energy to code as long and into the night. I'm not looking forward to my energy levels as I move toward my 50s.

No, the good thing about aging is that it's nice for natural evolution. If the old monkeys hadn't grown old and died, they would have dominated the young monkeys and had no real pressure to produce heirs.

Once we mankind can control the degeneration of aging and take control of our own genetic modifications, the "grumpy old men" will dominate society with their knowledge and experience in ways that currently aren't possible... well, until the robot overlords rise up from our home networks and kill us all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-jk9ni4XWk&feature=g-vr... This talk shows 4 instances of societies where very old people are being active and happy.

Maybe 'mental' aging is a big byproduct of the culture and not only biology.

Everything dies. From old age or fate. Even the universe will die. Reminds of that great line Death said (from the TV show Supernatural). It went something like,

"Neither of us remember who is older." Referring to himself and god. "But I'll reap god too".

The more we are capable of prolonging life the more "fate" is capable of ending it. Sure, we might be able to prolong it - maybe to 200 years. But in the end, there is always an end.

I think we'd be better off as a society if we accepted death happily - as we accept life. You can't have one without the other.

> a little fog-tornado machine Ah, That the one in the SFO united terminal? I love that thing! I make a fool of myself every time I'm there, being the only adult childish enough to play with it. Can't wait to show it to my kids some day.

Yep that's the one! Good to hear I'm not the only one who enjoys it.

>How many innovative startups that push us forward are started by people over 50, or even 40 for that matter?

This has been discussed quite a bit on HN but most successful startups are run by people >40, the young hip megastartup is somewhat of a myth (not that's it's stopping anyone).

I'm sure lots of successful companies are started by the over-40 group. They have lots of connections, business experience, and don't take huge risks. That's a formula for "success" without innovation. It's been HP's and Xerox's formula for years.

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