Hope for the future.

I love to write, in the manner in which other people love to eat. I do it to live, and it satisfies, to a degree, an appetite for self-expression that has been with me, since earliest childhood. In short, I have things to say, and a need to say them. That is the first good part about being a writer. The second good part - in fact, the better part, comes from something I read, by chance, in my random meanders across the Internet.

In a book entitled "Aging and Old Age" by Richard A. Posner, I stumbled on this statement, that imbued me with a definite hope for the future:

"Writing ability, which in the best judges can fairly be termed literary, is an aspect of crystallized intelligence, and is one of the aspects least likely to decline with age until senility sets in."

Later on in the same paragraph Posner notes: "Comparison of the writing style (not intellectual creativity) of the same person at different ages often reveals steady improvement to a quite advanced age, with no decline from that late peak, until shortly before death."

To me this is a phenomenal statement, for it unseats what people generally think of old age. There is, in most people, a belief that old age is decrepit, mentally and physically and that the old are less capable than the young. However, with respect to writing ability, it is clear that the opposite holds true: the old are MORE capable of writing than the young. This, of course, overturns the beliefs and habits of modern publishing - for is it not the young, beautiful, marketable, "star" that they ever seek to highlight, to give big advances to, and to hold up to us, as the greatest of the great? Yet, it is simply not true. That same youngster will be far better in old age, should they continue to write, than they ever could be, when so young. So, too, other, perhaps unknown and unheralded older writers, are likely to be much better writers than the ones who are selected for youthful stardom.

However, that is not to say a young writer can't be brilliant at writing, at choosing just the right words and fashioning beautiful prose (or poetry, for that matter) - of course, they can. Yet, what this distillation of research is saying is that they are likely to be much better in old age, than they were in youth, as long as they continue to write.

Writers don't get old, they get better. However, it is the young who get publishing contracts!

So, should you have your eyes on a young writer with promise: know this, that as the years pass, their talent is not likely to fade, but to grow. That young writer you so admire is likely to grow into a writer you admire even more. Now, isn't that a hopeful thought to hold in mind, as you assess any writer you read? The future of a writer, may very well be much better than their past.

Thus, if you are a writer, don't fear to age, for your talent will grow as you do. If you are a reader, don't fear the aging of your favourite writers, for they will only offer you sweeter words than the ones you have already read, by them.

I am glad I read that article - it makes me feel altogether better about the passage of time. It gives me the hope that, if I am lucky and my health holds out, that the years ahead will be more fruitful than the years behind and that I might grow, one day, into a writer, so much more skillful than I am today. That makes age something not to fear, but to welcome and look forward to, in anticipation of the written works to come.

Your favourite writers are only going to get better.

Happy reading all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

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Stereotypes: Age and liberalism, conservatism.

There is this strongly held stereotype that, as people age, they become more conservative and rigid in their views and less willing to take in new information and change in accordance to it. Most people, in most places believe in this image. Yet, is it true?

The researchers Nicholas Danigelis, and Stephen Cutler of the University of Vermont and Melissa Hardy of Pennsylvannia State University used a data set on 46,510 Americans from the US General Social Surveys of 1972 to 2004. The surveys assessed attitudes in areas such as politics, race, gender, economic and sexuality issues. In their analysis they corrected for the fact (since the surveys did not refer to the same people) that each set of information was on a different group who had started out with different baseline values and outlooks.

Amazingly, the researchers found that, as people got older, more of them changed towards greater liberalism, than otherwise. Quite simply, their attitudes and outlooks opened up as they got older - they did NOT close down and rigidify.

So, why do people believe that oldsters are rigid, conservative and blinkered in their outlook? Well, because an average 60 year old might seem more conservative than an average 30 year old - but what they haven't realized is that the 60 year old will have started out as much more conservative than they have become. We don't see, at first glance, the change towards liberalism that has occurred over the 60 year old's lifetime. Yet, it is there. The older you get, on average, the more liberal you are going to become.

What does this mean? Well, it means that, in reality, old people are NOT stuck in their ways, ARE open to new information and are likely to hold liberal positions on most issues. The funny thing is, the old sound much like how we imagine the young to be. OLD is the new YOUNG.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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