Ask HN: What are the knowledge lost when babyboomers retire?

2 points·pastaking··4 comments

Over 7000 babyboomers retire each day since 2011. This is a staggering number. There have been a lot of places on the web saying we're losing a huge amount of knowledge from these retirees.

I'm having trouble understanding the importance of this - what are some specific examples of the knowledge lost?

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I feel that the most important knowledge that (some) baby boomers have is political organizing knowledge (i.e. how to build a movement, solidarity-building, union organizing). Luckily, this transfer of knowledge can only be accelerated by retirement (if the boomers choose to remain politically active).

Other than that, when I look at all that generation has accomplished/fucked-up, and I say meh. Better to loose the knowledge and build new structures.

Young dog: "old dogs can't learn new tricks"

Old dog: "only puppies think those tricks are new"

Saturn V rocketry.

You won't truly understand the importance of it for another couple decades.

Maybe more.

It's not like there are important facts they know that you don't (well, maybe). Rather, they will have refined their understanding of almost everything.

You have experienced this sort of thing yourself.

There are subjects that as a child, you thought you knew SO much about -- and (I'm making a possibly incorrect assumption that you're in your early 20s) as an adult you realize that your childhood understanding was hopelessly crude.

And forty-year-old-you will look back on your current understanding and consider it, at best, to have been unsophisticated.

I can only imagine what you'll think when you reach retirement age because I myself, am only in my forties.

I have however, noticed smirks on the faces of the elderly and wondered what they know that I don't... yet.

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