[_mvuc]

When you treat adults like children, and children like babies, you get exactly that. And that's why a hundred years ago 14-year olds were captaining their own ships, and today you have 40-year olds who can't do their own laundry or balance a checkbook.

[mikeash]

I don't think there's that much of a difference between now and then, just people paying attention to different things.

I know kids who were certified to fly airplanes by themselves at 14. We don't let them captain ships anymore, but that doesn't mean there aren't any capable teenagers anymore, they just do other things.

There were plenty of useless humans around a hundred years ago as well. We don't hear about them much, because why would anyone talk about a random 40-year-old who can't balance a checkbook a century later? The capable people are the ones who get remembered. The less-capable ones don't tend to be remembered much outside their family, and within that, there are plenty of stories floating around about Aunt So-and-so who never moved out of the house, never got married, never found work, etc.

[Periodic]

There are have actually been a few young people sailing around the world solo in the last few decades[1]. I'm sure for each of those there are many who perform more mundane tasks or have jobs doing things like ferrying or tours. It's perhaps not as illustrious as it once was. Instead of captaining a ship we now have young people starting companies, trading one kind of venture for another.

1. http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/eco-tourism/stories/5-teens-who...

[SkyMarshal]

I also wonder if it's related to decreased birth rates in modern times - parents have fewer children than a century or two ago, so losing a single child to an accident of some sort is much more costly to the family, hence the increased risk aversion.

[spin]

I have another explanation: If you have more kids, you don't have time to watch after them all as much.

[mark-r]

I doubt that losing a child has ever been less than awful no matter how many you have.

[SkyMarshal]

Certainly no less emotionally awful, but less economically consequential to the family. Incentives matter.

[alayne]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to call bullshit unless you can actually cite a reference showing some significant number of 14 year old ship captains in 1913.

[angersock]

If you count fishing and crabbing, and possibly ferrying, I would be unsurprised in the slightest.

[sliverstorm]

David Farragut comes to mind, although I don't know if the plural (i.e., many 14 year olds) applies.