michael_nielsen

Disappointments: when 23, reading a paper, realizing: 'this is Peak Human'. I had grown up: now differences were quantitative, not qualitative. Never again would I see leaps like object permanence, counting, reading, the future, death, logic, sarcasm, programming, statistics...

I didn't understand the paper, but I realized that I 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 understand it - it was simply a matter of time & energy & prerequisites. It was not beyond me in a fundamental way. There were no more Piagetian levels. Isn't it sad, that it only takes 20 years or so, and that's it?

I've often had similar thoughts & a similar sense of disappointment. I wonder if they're right, though, or if I'm not perceiving important stages in people's aging.