I deeply do not share the intuition that younger versions of me are dumber and/or less ethical. Not sure how to express this but:
17!Austin had much better focus/less ADHD (possibly as a result of not having a smartphone all the time), and more ability to work through hard problems
17!Austin read a lot more books
17!Austin was quite good at math
17!Austin picked up new concepts much more quickly, had more fluid intelligence
17!Austin had more slack, ability to try out new things
17!Austin had better empathy for the struggles of young people
This last point is a theme in my all-time favorite book, Ender’s Game—that the lives of children and teenagers are real lives, but society kind of systematically underweights their preferences and desires. We stick them into compulsory schooling, deny them the right to vote and the right to work, and prevent them from making their own choices.
I fully believe you when you say that 17!Austin was just as smart and selfless as 27!Austin. The same pattern is not the case for 20!Jay and 30!Jay, including all your points about 17!Austin. (except the one on slack, but 20!Jay did not meaningfully use it)
That said, I don’t think we’re actually in disagreement on this. I believe what you say about 17!Austin, and I assume you believe what I say about 20!Jay—neither of us have known each other’s past selves, so we have no reason to believe that our current selves are wrong about them.
Given that, I’m curious if there are any specific points in my original comment that you disagree with and why. I think that’d be a constructive point of discussion. Alternatively, if you agree with what I wrote, but you don’t think that is a sufficient argument against what you said, that’d be interesting to hear about too.
I deeply do not share the intuition that younger versions of me are dumber and/or less ethical. Not sure how to express this but:
17!Austin had much better focus/less ADHD (possibly as a result of not having a smartphone all the time), and more ability to work through hard problems
17!Austin read a lot more books
17!Austin was quite good at math
17!Austin picked up new concepts much more quickly, had more fluid intelligence
17!Austin had more slack, ability to try out new things
17!Austin had better empathy for the struggles of young people
This last point is a theme in my all-time favorite book, Ender’s Game—that the lives of children and teenagers are real lives, but society kind of systematically underweights their preferences and desires. We stick them into compulsory schooling, deny them the right to vote and the right to work, and prevent them from making their own choices.
I fully believe you when you say that 17!Austin was just as smart and selfless as 27!Austin. The same pattern is not the case for 20!Jay and 30!Jay, including all your points about 17!Austin. (except the one on slack, but 20!Jay did not meaningfully use it)
That said, I don’t think we’re actually in disagreement on this. I believe what you say about 17!Austin, and I assume you believe what I say about 20!Jay—neither of us have known each other’s past selves, so we have no reason to believe that our current selves are wrong about them.
Given that, I’m curious if there are any specific points in my original comment that you disagree with and why. I think that’d be a constructive point of discussion. Alternatively, if you agree with what I wrote, but you don’t think that is a sufficient argument against what you said, that’d be interesting to hear about too.