[olympus]

"Normal people flourish and are in their prime around 50."

This is false. The only advantage people in their fifties have is experience. Your body is past its peak physically and mentally. People flourishing in their fifties are by and large reaping the benefits of things done in their younger decades, not because they are peaking.

I'm not saying that someone that is 50 years old is decrepit, but ask nearly any academic and they'll tell you they were better when they were younger. Ask nearly any athlete (ultramarathoners being an exception) and they'll tell you they were better when they were younger.

[learc83]

>but ask nearly any academic and they'll tell you they were better when they were younger.

I don't think that's true at all outside of Mathematics.

>Ask nearly any athlete (ultramarathoners being an exception) and they'll tell you they were better when they were younger.

That's obvious.

[ebullientocelot]

>I don't think that's true at all outside of Mathematics.

Quite a few great math papers are written by people over 40, despite the flashy age restriction on the Fields Medal.

[mkempe]

So you say you don't call people who are 50 "decrepit" -- but do you call people in their middle age or in their 50s "elderly"?

[olympus]

I didn't make that comment. However, I would say that people in their fifties have started to experience age-related decline in numerous areas (memory included). Showing a memory improvement in people 50-80 should be more accurately described as "restoring" their memory rather than "boosting" it, which implies that they now have supranormal memory.

[Elrac]

Am in my late 50s, can confirm. Memory, concentration, attention, and a bunch of other faculties, both mental and physical, are trending disgustingly downward.

I know there are things I could do to fight it, but motivation is another one of those things going down. f--- it, f--- everything.

[glangdale]

Pushing 46, can confirm. Literally just got that thing that screams "maybe you need bifocals not contacts" where nothing close quite comes into focus... basic response is "fuck it, fuck everything" like you say.