[sturgill]

I frequently say that 16 y/o Chris would be very disappointed in 40 y/o Chris. But 16 y/o Chris was an idiot.

As you touched on, the fun twist is when you abstract the learning so it’s not just “I was wrong about X” but “I should be much more accepting of contrarian views.”

[ZYinMD]

I remember reading Harry Potter on Kindle, and Dumbledore had a line "Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young", and Kindle has this feature to show how many other readers have highlighted a sentence, and this sentence were highlighted by thousands. I guess they're all teenagers.

[lupire]

Harry Potter on Kindle readers are probably young adults.

[withinboredom]

I’m reading it out loud to my family (every character has a different voice). It’s a very mixed group with lots of discussions.

[rybosome]

I am really looking forward to doing that as well with my daughter when she is older. Narrating books well with distinct character voices is a lot of fun!

[vishnugupta]

HP on Kindle is my go-to-sleep-at-night book. I’m in early 40s.

[lostlogin]

Amazon probably has the exact demographics.

[adverbly]

> the fun twist is when you abstract the learning so it’s not just “I was wrong about X” but “I should be much more accepting of contrarian views.”

Yup. Until people abstract over their previous experiences they will continue to find themselves in situations where they have had and discarded 5 different previous viewpoints only to think to themselves: "I've got it right this time, and anyone that disagrees is stupid".

Some would call this "Wisdom". Also interesting that learning this lesson does not make your current understanding any more accurate - it just reduces your confidence in it. Wisdom != Ability to understand.

[VeninVidiaVicii]

Don’t judge your former self too harshly either. It’s easy to forget why you were an idiot at 16.

[andi999]

Make that 25.

[jfengel]

50

[swayvil]

Larry Niven. Protector.

Human eats mutagenic yam. Among various changes, it greatly augments intelligence.

The first thought of a Protector, just awakened from his mutative trance, is, "Wow, I have been really really dumb".

[sershe]

I am in my late 30ies and was recently thinking something like that about my 24 year old self... but sometimes I think, what if 3X-year old me is the one who's the idiot? Your brain has to go downhill at some point... judgment too, probably, even if the brain is not going downhill yet. How does one know it didn't start happening at 25/35/...?

Like, I was much more excited about tinkering with tech when I was 25. I know I was, I know it made me happy, I know that is what got me where I am now in terms of money/etc., but I can rarely summon these feelings now. That is clearly degradation, if I could swap some "wisdom" or whatever that I gained for enthusiasm I would do it.

What else has degraded?

Let's consider a more ambivalent one, I was excited when Facebook/etc. came out but I think TikTok/Snapchat etc. are stupid gimmicks... am I wiser, or just older and more boring?

Etc.