Apologies if i'm flooding this thread.
i think the OP poll is actually quite interesting—and for several broad reasons, especially socio/psycho-logically & philosophically
(*will refrain from further elaboration for now, but will be forthcoming if requested)
*Long story short, the following is just my sharing of a current opinion.
Skip if too much wordy make brain hurty.
There's a few 80+ yo individuals participating on a forum i've frequented over the last ~16months, who have significantly influenced my perceptions of online personas. (*specifically regarding my subjective conceptions which relate to interpretations incorporating "age".)
Up until at least a decade ago, i used to (*erroneously auto-generalize) whenever considering conceptions with any pertinence to more experienced individuals.(*whom i once lazily thought of as "frail old people" & practically useless.)
An example of this erroneous auto-generalization could be thusly comparable to seeing (irl) an experienced individual (*eg: 70-120yo) and illogically assuming their physical capacities accurately correlate/or are indicative of their mental capacities.
Irl, i've worked with many experienced individuals. It's been a very common experience that if i shut tf up, afford respect & attention to those inclined towards forthrightly expounding profundities—(and tbh, in some cases even the most narcissistic types too)—my subjective comprehension of reality expeditiously undergoes significant expansion.(*critically in respect to aspects for which i'd previously had little —to no awareness thereof.)
The particular 80+ yo individuals i mentioned to begin with,
i found for the first 6-8months to be so remarkably relatable (*although unusually knowledgeable and shockingly astute) that i really thought they were in their 30s.(*and possibly covert geniuses.)
Blew my mind when one of them (*Freeminer) addressed a subject mid last year, in which he began describing his first hand experiences during the 1940s—eventually also posting a more recent picture of himself.
(
i mean this positively)-i was literally dumbfounded. He is far different from my erroneous conception of some uncommonly insightful 30yo smarta*.
(*This revelation actually has increased my respect of the man too.)
i think it is fascinating that this (*admittedly-in physical appearance-very strikingly handsome) "old dude", possesses such an extraordinarily youthful (*vitalized) personality.
(*Considering there have been many 20-40 yo's i've encountered, who i initially thought were possibly just grumpy/stagnant 60-80yo's.)
Perhaps i'm limited in my assessment of general social perspectives regarding perceptions of "age" & "elderly" individuals—as to me it seems we're typically taught (*via standardized social institutionalization systems) to essentially feign respect for our more experienced members of society just so we appear outwardly to be of "good character"—while inwardly intentionally concealing underdeveloped arrogant/narcissistic beliefs of our-selves/& of younger generations as somehow automatically being "superior" overall.
Imo i've learned far more valuable & actionable knowledge in general, simply within an afternoon's casual chatting with an experienced individual—and yep, in my experience, the reciprocal benefits these chats manifest would (imo) be far in excess to whatever generally repetitious and largely fictional pseudo-"knowledge" one may attain throughout several sustained & intellectually vacuous months spent conforming unto an average mainstream "educational" box.
Anywho,
thanks for reading.
*End of rant.