Youth is a time of random data gathering, long-shot experimentation, out-and-out play: gamboling & gambling, in other words. That can be a great good for society — wild exploration into odd corners of possibility-space may lead to radical new discoveries.
But as one matures and the clock of life ticks away, with major investments already made in learning one set of tricks, it becomes less appropriate to frisk about coltishly. Middle-age is a time to dig in, sharpen one's tools, build upon the foundations laid in earlier years, and deliver results: persistance & performance, one might say.
Then, necessarily, comes old(er) age. The mainspring begins to wind down, and the gears start to get a bit rusty. Time to pull threads together, tie off loose ends, and prepare to hand the work over to another generation of hands: synthesis & sharing, perhaps.
(See ^zhurnal 29 Dec 1999 ShootTheMoon, and StagesOfWork)
Wednesday, May 23, 2001 at 05:44:04 (EDT) = 2001-05-23
(correlates: NextPlease, IncalculableWealth, MechanicalAdvantage, ...)