Some time ago I started to deconstruct the name of this blog, starting with ‘Scientist’. Perhaps I should continue with ‘Old’. That’s easy. Without giving away too much, my 70th decade is now imminent.
So, that’s it then.
Naw, I can’t leave it at that. I might have written a scholarly discourse on old age but you will have to put up with some disconnected, and rather personal, thoughts.
First off, there is nothing special about old age. It’s just another part of life. It brings its problems of course – from stiff knees to dementia to eventual death. But we all face challenges through life – from childhood leukemia to being hit by a bus. When I hear some old people going on about their illnesses I sometimes think they should spend some time in a children’s hospital, seeing kids who may not have much of life left to them.
I’m being a bit hard here. Things can stack up against you when you get old. My Father developed Parkinson’s: first it stopped him bell ringing, then it stopped him singing in the church choir, then it stopped him playing bowls. He once said to me: “This Parkinson’s is slowly taking away all the things I love”. So, OK, add a bit of compassionate modification to the previous paragraph. But the main argument still holds.
If you can bring yourself to adopt a positive attitude then old age can bring advantages. You can carry on learning, for example. When I was in my 50s someone asked me if I could pass the university exams I had taken some 30 year’s earlier. The immediate answer was “no” (although I reckon that, with a few months of concerted revision, I could make a good fist of it). But then I said: “Of course, 30 years ago I could not have done the job I am doing now.”
And, so long as you don’t have a closed mind, with age and life experience you complement knowledge with wisdom. I read somewhere that knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable while wisdom is not adding a tomato to a fruit salad. As I understand it, one of the major impediments to developing artificial intelligence is the need to give your AI agent an immense store of information and understanding about the world, in order to deal with the unexpected situations which we humans face every day. We can’t develop all that by learning, we get it it by living (with an open mind) and old people have a lot more living behind them.
I once read an intersting article by John Naughton in which he was comparing the impact of the invention of moveable type with that of the internet. I followed it up online and found all the usual comments including one which said: “I’m lucky to be young because I knew all this already”. I was tempted to add “Yes, and I knew everything when I was young.” But I didn’t bother. Pearls before swine and all that. Henry Brooks Adams said: “What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough who know how to learn.” I’ll buy into that, although I might widen the definition of ‘learn’ to ‘living with an open and enquiring mind.’
For minds and bodies, the adage “use it or lose it” is very true. I’m just off for a few weeks in Scotland where we hope to do interesting walks, including up mountains. I’m not a climber but I will do my best. I’ll grumble a lot at feeling out of puff but I’ll press on and feel good when we achieve something.
A final thought about what I said back at the start about eventual death. At least when you are old you have more idea of when that will happen, and that should concentrate your mind on how to live the rest of your life. I heard someone say on the radio the other day: “You are told you have a brain tumour. What are you going to do for the next six months?”
Grumpy Old Scientist 