Weaving the Worldwide We ~ No country for Old Men.

To some people that is a depressing realization. We are used to dismissing our fifth and sixth decades as a negative chapter in our lives, perhaps even a cause for crisis. But recent scientific findings have shown just how important middle age is for every one of us, and how crucial it has been to the success of our species. Old or middle age is not just about wrinkles and worry. It is not about getting old. It is an ancient, pivotal episode in the human life span, preprogrammed into us by natural selection, an exceptional characteristic of an exceptional species. When the web was first introduced, people were told that everything has changed and that there was no place for old fogies. This turned out to be a massive non –sequitur~ a conclusion that does not follow cold logic. That’s precisely the mistake the bankrupt first wave of dot-commers made at the turn of the millennium. To carry out their roles in society, middle-aged people need not necessarily think better than younger adults, but they may have to think differently. Indeed, functional brain imaging studies suggest that they sometimes use different brain regions than young people when performing the same tasks, raising the possibility that the nature of thought itself changes as we get older. And if the job is to manage, motivate and lead a bunch of highly paid, individualistic young men, some poorly educated and self centered, we wrongly assume that we need youth to lead them, lead by example and can be identified as from their planet. Wrong again, farsightedness is rare at 35 but universal from 50 to 60. Alex Ferguson is 70 years, the average age of a Premier League manager is 51. Curious how the most physically demanding and rapidly changing world of sport manages to avoid a youth fixation and applauds experience when it comes to leadership. In offices, on construction sites and on sports fields around the world, we see old and middle-aged people advising and guiding younger adults and sometimes even ordering them about. Middle-aged people can do more, they earn more and, in short, they run the world. The dawn of wisdom like good wine mellows with age, that’s why even Sages, Saints, Philosophers and Scientists are older and wiser.- Excerpted from David Bainbridge and Andrew Cracknell – cocktail stirred not shaken.