[nickff]

>"... as though it's literally stupid to care about other people."

That's not what the quote means. It's generally understood to describe how young people are well-intentioned but naive, and that you come to understand your limitations and get wiser as you get older, which causes you to adopt more philosophically conservative views (see Leo Strauss for a good example).

[IceMetalPunk]

Perhaps I exaggerated the dichotomy, but you just associated being well-intentioned with being naive, and being wiser -- explicitly in contrast to that younger state -- with being conservative. So even in your own comment, those associations are implied.

[nickff]

I didn’t say people who were well-intentioned were therefore naive, I said that young people tended to be both. Wisdom can be seen as understanding one’s limitations, as well as appreciating the insights of others (including one’s ancestors), and is more associated with conservativism.

I am not saying young people or leftists are dumb, or that right-wingers are smart.