[spacefearing]

Until I had kids of my own I did not quite comprehend just how capable little kids can be.

A 5 year old holding an AK47 is entirely capable of being a legitimate competitor to an adult holding an AK47. An average 10 year old armed with an AK47 might be more dangerous than an average 40 year old. Child soldiers are likely very effective, as depressing as this thought is.

Small children are profoundly ignorant but they're not dramatically less intelligent than adults. In limited domains, like driving or shooting, a high performing child can easily beat a low performing adult.

[mikekchar]

Kind of strange comment, but one of the problems I've seen in schools is the assumption by teachers that children are not as intelligent as adults. Generally this isn't true. Usually they lack a framework for reasoning and lack experience with language for communicating. There are some differences with brain development of young children for sure, but in my experience people underestimate children by a fairly large margin. You see the same phenomenon with people trying to talk to adults who are just learning the language. There is an assumption that the person is stupid rather than that they have difficulty communicating.

[zozbot234]

People underestimate kids in some ways, and overestimate them in others. The underlying framework for highly abstract thinking takes time to develop, as does the ability for understanding empathy and moral behavior. A five-year-old kid literally has no notion that driving a car he's not the owner of is theft, and thus grossly unethical conduct. The car is just there for the taking; to him it's no different than playing GTA.

[TomMarius]

5 year old kids are capable of very complex ethical thinking and empathy, most definitely including understanding of ownership. Maybe it's not as common in the US, but you can see it clearly in any country where kids regularly go to child care from age 3.

[SamReidHughes]

But kids do get more intelligent as they get older. They get better at doing stuff in ways not explainable by practice.

[wegs]

They do, but the intelligence of kids is highly underrated. This started with Piaget, and although Piaget has been widely debunked, teachers still believe it.

[CoryG89]

Also, a 10 year old child will likely not fear bodily harm or death the same way a 40-year old adult would, of course that can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on the situation.

[spitfire]

This is also why gymnasts and ballerinas need to be taught young. They lack fear and "bounce" when they fall.

Once they turn 12 or so they lack that "bounce", it becomes much more difficult or impossible to teach at a certain level.

[kube-system]

It's similar for professional race car drivers. Many top drivers start at 6-12 years old.

[technothrasher]

To be fair, an AK47 is a hell of a lot easier to use than a car. My son was able to manage a rifle pretty well at six years old, but I very seriously doubt he'd have been able to drive a car successfully.

[downerending]

Ack, still picturing that kid at the gun show that mortally failed to handle an automatic.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Child labour is an untapped resource.