22 ms·

All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it

• gopalcnepal 7d ago
  All I say to a child is "Don't grow up, it is a trap".
• grugnog 7d ago
  The comments about play here are echoed really nicely by a 3Blue1Brown video - not public yet, but up on Patreon.
• sublinear 8d ago
  All well and good. I agree with the sentiment, but why are we asking for permission? Does this not strongly demonstrate the inherent corruption of institutions?
• burticlies 8d ago
  I see this clearly at kids birthday parties whenever there is a piñata. Adults hate them. All they see is the goal and the incredibly inefficient path the kids are taking towards it. But the kids love it, they don’t care when they miss, they are just enjoying hitting something with a stick. And every miss heightens the excitement for the eventual lolly scramble.
  • galaxyLogic 8d ago
    The British rock-band Traffic said it in their "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" : "... we were children once, playing with toys". I wonder if it's true that people don't remember. People maybe remember but don't want to talk about it. It is such a cognitive dissonance.
    • sublinear 8d ago
      Everyone remembers, but ADHD is overrepresented in the high-level positions of leadership.
      • baliex 8d ago
        I can’t tell if you’re implying that those with ADHD are more likely or less likely to think and act in a childlike way. Or whether doing so or not is what causes the over representation in high level positions. Could you please elaborate? My understanding is that ADHD would make you more likely to behave in childlike ways as an adult, but not that that would necessarily lead to holding leadership positions. I’m genuinely very interested in your thoughts.
        • sublinear 7d ago
          I'm not going to argue splitting hairs about what ADHD is. Many of the most famous CEOs and startup founders have properly diagnosed ADHD and have been very vocal about it. This is also often true of any business owner you've met in real life. I didn't think this statement would get any pushback since not too long ago the front page of HN was touting this as a "superpower". The high-functioning expression of impulsivity is impatience with processes and insistence on maximum efficiency. I guess lately this is seen as negative because of the zeitgeist around AI? Tao is talking about this impatience. > Prematurely putting such games to an end by immediately providing the nominal goal --- for instance, providing these children with a brief lecture on infinity and the unbounded nature of the natural numbers --- defeats the entire "purpose" of such curiosity-driven play It's not that they don't remember playing as children, but that they resent the time spent on it as "wasteful". They do mean well by trying to squash play time, but yes of course that's harmful and naive.
      • setopt 8d ago
        Do you have a source for that? My experience has been that people with ADHD are rather underrepresented, the ones who are overrepresented are rather hyper-extroverts that sometimes present similarly, but that do not have the same impulse control challenges (impossible to focus on boring tasks, hyperfocus on fun tasks) as someone with true ADHD.
    • ErroneousBosh 8d ago
      Runrig's song "Fichead Bliadhna", too, but that's more kind of a protest song: Ruith sa mhonadh, ruith nam beann ’S mar sin dhan sgoil aig deireadh samhraidh Nar clann aig còig bliadhna dh’aois ’S gun facal Beurla nar ceann translated: Freedom of the moor, freedom of the hills (Ruith is literally "running" though) And off to school at summer's end As children of five years old And not a word of English in our heads Particularly resonant with me as my 6-year-old cycles off to school for the second month of Primary 2. Quite a wrench to have to deal with sitting still and listening to the teacher when it's 20° outside and sunny and there are bikes and toy cars and mud and sticks. At least some twenty years later by the late 70s when I was that age they actually were teaching Gaelic in schools again instead of literally beating it out of people, and now my son is in a Gaelic-medium class in school making it one of the three languages he speaks.
      • nephihaha 8d ago
        Run of the moors, run of the hills And like that to school at summer's end Us being children of five years of age Without a word of English in our heads That's my literal translation anyway. I was talking to an American yesterday who couldn't understand the concept of the Highlands yesterday. His whole idea was of a place presented magically but with little more than funny accents in it. I tried to get over to him all the history of suppression, eviction, lack of economic development etc... but the big one is cultural. If the Highlands lose their culture (and they already have largely) then they are indistinguishable from anywhere else.
        • ErroneousBosh 7d ago
          I mean make him read Hallaig by Somhairle MacGill-eain. And, ideally, go and visit a cleared township. https://maps.app.goo.gl/nc8uhBogrBCjgjYs9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/nc8uhBogrBCjgjYs9 I used to walk out there most weekends when I was at school. Until about 175 years ago, those were homes. Families lived there. The white dots you see are sheep, which is of course why families don't live there now. Good Gaelic, incidentally, where did you speak it?
  • CalRobert 8d ago
    What?!?!? Piñatas are awesome! And as people who emigrated from California it’s usually a fun novelty for the local Dutchies to see (though I see them in local stores now too!)
  • cbolton 8d ago
    It never occurred to me to consider efficiency in piñata, but I dislike them because it's making a game out of violence.
    • Computer0 8d ago
      As a child I did not see it as violent
      • locknitpicker 8d ago
        > As a child I did not see it as violent That's the problem. Hitting a tied up animal until it breaks is clearly a violent affair, similar how hanging puppets in nooses or putting a doll in a guillotine. I'm sure that there are kids growing up in places where bullfights are common thinking that torturing and killing a bull in a party-like atmosphere is fine.
        • applfanboysbgon 8d ago
          Do you see Pokemon as encouraging a culture of accepting dogfighting/cockfighting rings?
          • gambiting 8d ago
            I mean yeah, absolutely. But a child growing up in a western society is unlikely to encounter either of those. But generally I do see Pokemon as violent and I wouldn't let my 5 year old watch it quite yet. When he's a bit older I hope he enjoys playing through the original games and the OG tv show with me, but I see parents playing the TV show for their 4-5 year olds and I think that's just too young. Same with Spidey and friends and few other shows made "for children" which absolutely promote violence despite the colourful aesthetic.
          • jhbadger 8d ago
            It literally is a reference to the Japanese hobby of collecting bugs and making them fight each other, so yes? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_fighting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_fighting
  • tyrabound 8d ago
    Genuinely, what kind of miserable people are you around when even at a children’s birthday there is this kind of obsessive fixation going on? You really may want to think about if you are around people who are genuinely good for you and your children. I’m not surprised though, over the years I have noticed a notable shift towards the controlling and narcissistic spectrums of parents. I’m not totally sure why that is, but it seems to be definitely happening and it’s also rather clear to me that it’s a rather “American” toxic nature, probably due to the sick and perverse obsession with besting, outdoing, greedily wanting and needing more and shinier things than “the Joneses”, the obsession with celebrity and fame and money. It all contributes to the diseased state of society and “culture”, if you can call obsession with corporate outputs that. But anyways, just let kids have their moment of fun, people, their identity and soul will be crushed by the “American” indoctrination and propaganda machine soon enough and they will become like the drone adults. Let them be human for at least a couple years of their lives.
    • graemep 8d ago
      I think you are right about it being miserable people. People who have forgotten how to have fun and just enjoy life. I think its linked to the hustle culture, and the need to constantly do something (even if its just doomscrolling). There is also a tendency to treat children as a strange species rather than as human beings. I think that is older but its become worse as people come up with more and more parenting approaches, write books and make videos about it, etc. Its sadly not just an American problem. At the very least an Anglophone problem.
  • Al-Khwarizmi 8d ago
    I get piñatas, but there is an extreme version of this that I find just too much. Not sure in other places, but in Spain there is a kind of fair stall where children use a plastic fishing rod with a magnet or hook to catch some plastic ducks with the corresponding magnet or hook. The ducks have some points and give you rewards, but the payoff is terrible - maybe you spend €10 and you get a gift that you could buy for €2 at the neighborhood shops. And the fun part with the fishing lasts like 20 seconds, no more, and it's individual, there isn't even a competition or anything, no time limit, etc. Just catch three ducks and see how many points they give you. My 7-year-old son (who by the way loves math) always wants to go there. I can't help but explain that the payoff is horrendous from any point of view, and he understands and doesn't argue against it, but he still insists. Sometimes I convince him by offering alternatives, but sometimes I have to cave because he seems to like it so much. But man, spending euros on that stings, I have the feeling that the people who run the stall must be laughing at all the suckers who fall into the trap.
    • shifto 8d ago
      My kids love something like this we see every year at the traveling fair. It's the same idea but with rubber duckies floating around and having to catch them with a small pole with a hook attached. It's €20 for 2 kids to have 2 minutes of fun and the payoff is a €1 Aliexpress/Temu pollution generator disguised as a toy. They play with it for a day before it ends up in the trash. The first few years I hated this for exactly the reasons you mention, but now I'm just happy they are happy. I think I have a few more years left before they don't want to go rubber ducky fishing with their dad no more and I doubt by then €20 gets me 2 minutes of joy with them.
      • Al-Khwarizmi 8d ago
        In fact it's the same thing. I said fish by mistake (probably because my mind made an association with the fishing rod and what it's usually used for) but they're ducks. I have edited the comment now.
      • throw0101a 8d ago
        > It's €20 for 2 kids to have 2 minutes of fun […] They play with it for a day […] Seems to me it's €20 for a day (8h? 16h?) of fun. That's not bad value: how much does a movie ticket cost for 2-3 hours?
  • deleted 8d ago
    [deleted]
  • wizardforhire 8d ago
    Adults have piñatas… theyre called starups
  • throw0101a 8d ago
    > And every miss heightens the excitement for the eventual lolly scramble. People under-appreciate (or have forgotten) that a lot of happiness is is related to anticipating as opposed to getting. I think if more people focused on the journey or the process (or the (present) moment), versus the goal, there'd be more joy/happiness around.
    • steveBK123 8d ago
      > People under-appreciate (or have forgotten) that a lot of happiness is is related to anticipating as opposed to getting Shoppers & hobbyists who spend too much time browsing gear are well aware of this though generally don't like to admit it to themselves... There was (I believe) a Korean app for people to fake shop so they get all the dopamine of the hunt without the cost of actually buying anything.
      • ethbr1 7d ago
        HeisenShop sounds like a great app idea for shopaholics -- automatically don't buy / cancel random or exceeding-monthly-budget items without telling the user.
      • hydrogen7800 7d ago
        I began and ended many hobbies in the novelty phase by endlessly reading about them, shopping, comparing features, etc. that I eventually became bored with them before spending a dollar. I got (almost) the whole novelty phase for free.
        • steveBK123 7d ago
          I've also found new hobbies sometimes allow cheaper gadget purchases / higher enjoyment-per-dollar than buying more junk for longtime hobbies. The logical mechanism for me was - a hobby I've done 30 years I have probably upgraded through various classes of equipment such that anything left to buy is expensive. For a new hobby I am back to buying little $100 gizmos again. Doesn't work for some hobbies that have a higher cost of entry.
      • 7d ago
  • groestl 8d ago
    I hate them because I seem to be the only adult that sees the kid kicking out another kid's teeth, or hurting them elsewhere.
  • aaron695 8d ago
    [dead]
  • timoth3y 8d ago
    > they are just enjoying hitting something with a stick This is truly one of life's under-appreciated little pleasures!
  • BigTTYGothGF 7d ago
    Because of circumstances I was involved in running several birthday parties for children these past few years. All of them had pinatas. In my experience: > Adults hate them This is absolutely not the case.
• deleted 8d ago
  [deleted]
• zshn 8d ago
  "C'est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si importante" - "It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important"
• ryuuseijin 8d ago
  This reminds me of a video I saw from Alan Watts [1] where he talks about how from childhood it is hammered into our minds that we must work we must do this or do that or we will be punished. And he talks about how you can choose to change your perspective or mindset and see work as a form of play, where you live in the moment. This is probably harder to do than to say, but this video resonated with me because your mindset is something you do have control over, and choosing not to get stressed about work, and choosing not to take things "seriously" and choosing not to do something for the outcome but just for performing the act, just like you would play music (an example he gave) or to see it as a game is something you can do. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9BXvBJ2dWo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9BXvBJ2dWo
  • HenrikPontoppid 8d ago
    Really a nice perspective. Carry childhood with you as an adult.
  • jaggederest 8d ago
    And, as with many things, as soon as you stop forcing yourself past the point of ease and fluency, you somehow both enjoy it more and also are more effective.
  • orlp 8d ago
    That's a nice story and all but it isn't a reality for most people. For most people on this planet it's work or starve on the street.
    • WalterBright 8d ago
      Somebody's got to work. Look at all the nice goodies we have.
    • ryuuseijin 8d ago
      I think the argument is not to not work, but to change the mindset that is so ingrained in our society that you must work. You don't want to starve, so you work, but you can do it with mindset that is fundamentally different, where you choose to focus on being in the moment, and don't let yourself get stressed by outcomes you have no control over, just as you would if you are playing a game or playing music. Changing your mindset is hard, you are fighting against an entire society where your are expected to be "serious" as an adult and identify yourself with your work, but you do have a choice
• HenrikPontoppid 8d ago
  I remember reading once about how Astrid Lindgren's children's books were supreme exactly because she - contrary to many others - remembers what it is like to be a child. Not just what you did or thought when you were a child - how it felt. The endless curiosity and appreciation for what in an adult's eyes is trivial is really a special thing I hope most people carry throughout their lives. On the other hand, children also understand more than one would normally think, essentially a Moravec's paradox but in relation to adults. "Children heal the soul" - Dostoevsky
  • 317070 8d ago
    Overestimate their understanding, underestimate their vocabulary.
    • Terr_ 8d ago
      I'm not sure whether to interpret this as a statement about what we currently over/under-estimate, or as command that we should try what feels like over/under-estimation in order to counter our own biases.
      • 317070 8d ago
        No, it was really helpful advice I read somewhere. That when explaining something, always overestimate someones understanding, and underestimate their vocabulary. Edit: apparently it's a vsauce thing. I do think it's right, it helped me a lot in life.
    • wizzwizz4 8d ago
      I like Lemony Snicket's approach: he gives (obviously) wrong, but technically correct, definitions for hard words. These definitions are usually hyper-specific, or satirical. Children, who are still very familiar with learning vocabulary from context, can find this much more amusing than adults who have given up on learning new words except via dictionaries. > The word “briskly” here means “quickly, so as to get the Baudelaire children to leave the house.” > “Wipi!” Sunny shrieked, which meant “I’d much prefer gardening to sitting around watching my siblings struggle through law books.”
• Markoff 8d ago
  the post has unreadable font in Vivaldi
  • hutattedonmyarm 8d ago
    Might be a Vivaldi problem. It has "Computer Modern Sans" in Firefox which seems to be perfectly legible
    • TonyStr 8d ago
      I found Computer Modern Sans quite unpleasant to read. Disabling it and reading Mastodon Sans Serif was much more pleasant
      • Gualdrapo 8d ago
        Yup, quite an odd choice to set the typeface for big blocks of text to a display typeface as CM Sans
    • thaumasiotes 8d ago
      In Firefox, all text outside the headline post, including the name and username that begin the headline post, appears to be in some kind of shrunken state which ruins its appearance. Zooming in solves the problem and causes the letters to appear correct rather than grotesquely malformed. I don't know how the site was allowed into production like this.
      • Markoff 8d ago
        you are right, it seems to be more zoom issue than font issue (or combo since I don't really experience this elsewhere, which is why I mentioned it), if I zoom out to 90% it becomes normally readable, but at default 100% zoom it is malformed unreadable (btw. I use 225% Windows 10 scaling at 2560x1440)
        • thaumasiotes 8d ago
• deleted 8d ago
  [deleted]
• mlsu 8d ago
  I think Tao correctly sees the problem with AI. It’s not that it is ineffective or has weaknesses. It’s that it’s not human. Like, it ought to be enough to say that the problem with AI is that it’s not human. Unfortunately, we live in a world where many (most?) people have willingly put away the childish things, so as to achieve some goal. The problem is that the point of life is to explore and have fun and have human to human experiences. I think math is probably fun because you’re working on hard problems with your collaborators. It should be obvious to everyone, as it is to children, that the point of life isn’t the goal, the point is the experience one has of living. They say that when you die the only thing you lose is the current moment. The problem with AI is that it doesn’t have a current moment to live in or to lose, it’s an inanimate thing. So, it should be obvious to everyone that the problem with the AI is that it’s not human. Alas.
  • jaggederest 8d ago
    I agree that AI isn't human, but why does that necessarily mean it's a problem? The analogy I use is watching an octopus juggle - just because it's better than a human can ever be, definitionally, doesn't mean it's a problem or replacing people. I think the impulse to use AI to replace human effort in cases where it's not drudgery, like art, math, etc is the issue, more than the fact that AI isn't human. Let AI do AI things, and humans do human things. I honestly hope that when everything shakes out we have a lot more room in the world for people doing things that are uniquely human, or amazing new collaborations that let humans do things they've never been able to do before.
  • matheusmoreira 8d ago
    > the point of life is to explore and have fun and have human to human experiences To do all those things, I need money.
    • ktallett 8d ago
      To do the first one perhaps, although how many have really explored locally in full. To have fun is all dependent on your view on life and have human to human experiences can be had any time you step outside the door. Just talk to people and be friendly.
• palmotea 8d ago
  > But modern AI tools, when directed without such expert supervision, can now be aimed all too easily at the ostensible goals of the field, without any incentive to take the slow, whimsical path. IMHO, that's the whole point of AI: automate the fun, to leave people with more drudgery. Worker! Spend less (ideally no) time doing creative things like coding, spend your time instead doing code review!
  • tripledry 8d ago
    classic, now I can have AIs make my games for me while I still have to cook and wash the dishes! Maybe AI can soon start playing the games for me, can't wait.
    • loa_in_ 8d ago
      From another thread: GPT6 plays Factorio and wins https://m.twitch.tv/videos/2867906622 https://m.twitch.tv/videos/2867906622
• ktallett 8d ago
  I am not a Tao hater but also not a fanboy but this is spot on! He is right, I don't love AI in many states and feel it is used for pointless task, however the beauty of that helping hand supporting you do tasks that you have no idea how to do is the magic in it. As a child we all asked questions regularly of what if we did this instead of this, why do we do things this way, why not try something else. Work and adult life gets us stuck in a rut, so anything that gets us out of a rut is welcome.
  • alansaber 8d ago
    Exactly, breadth not depth of knowledge, from a tutor with no ego
• Terr_ 8d ago
  An insightful SMBC comic: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/imagination https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/imagination > Father: "Ugh, how do kids enjoy this garbage?" [...] I had forgotten how often young-me would be daydreaming about stuff. I don't think having more digital distractions fully explains it.
  • mitxela 7d ago
    A lot of it's just "been there, done that". As I've already been a child and watched endless cartoons, why would I want to watch more? First time I ever went to a big outdoor music festival was completely overwhelming in a good way. Second time was pretty good. Third was alright. Fourth was boring. Maybe that wasn't the exact progression but you get the picture. We'd call it the "hedonic treadmill" when it comes to music festivals but we don't really use that term for cartoons.
  • deleted 5d ago
    [deleted]
• pred_ 8d ago
  He also just published this one: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/finite-time-blowup-with-smooth-forcing-term-for-the-incompressible-porous-medium-boussinesq-and-incompressible-euler-equations/comment-page-1/#comment-694321 https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/finite-time-blowup... While his concerns expressed here aren't new, it looks like the recent cases of scientific misconduct were enough to push for urgency: > But in the immediate term, the most pressing issue is for the entire mathematical community to unite around our core values and objectives, and reject irresponsible and unsustainable usages of AI technology that only serve to advance nominal goals rather than the true underlying goals of the field.
  • boothby 8d ago
    I've been pretty disappointed with those mathematicians who I once respected so acutely, embrace the leopards. Now, they are complaining that even mathematicians' faces are getting eaten. They chose to ignore the claims of rampant plagiarism laundering through training for several years by visual artists and open source developers. And here we are: Tao is finally concerned about the future of the people sharing a cage with this once-cute kitten.
• red_admiral 8d ago
  Relevant past HN submission: https://www.hgreer.com/PlayingInTheCreek/ https://www.hgreer.com/PlayingInTheCreek/ (summary: AI as a metaphor for optimising the fun out of play)
• BLKNSLVR 8d ago
  This relates almost not at all to the actual linked words, but I feel it relates to the sentiment of the title. As a parent of two, now pretty much independent grown, children, I came to the conclusion a while ago that my childhood was for my parents enjoyment and my children's childhoods were for my enjoyment. I fucking loved being able to guide them on their early ride through life. I think I re-lived my childhood vicariously through them, so I assume my parents did the same, and my kids will do the same with theirs. fingers firmly crossed It feels as if this is how it should be. When you're a child going through childhood you don't have the awareness that, well, that's what's happening, you're just doing your thing without any knowledge yet of what your thing is; very little to compare it to, not a lot of real choice. As an adult you're aware of the a lot of the badness in the world and the place you've ended up occupying in the innumerable spectrums of all the things. As an adult trying to guide kids into the world, the mad freedom of being a child is a wonder to behold. For those of you who haven't had kids yet, or have young ones, record their madness. My home videos of my kids being entirely unbridled children are probably my favourite possessions in the whole world. My kids even go back and watch themselves, to their own endless amusement. I often try to retain my 'wonder', and every now and then make sure to do something a bit mad. It makes the worthwhile people smile (and my kids cringe these days, but I sense there's an appreciation underneath it).
• _kb 8d ago
  Math from Three to Seven by Alexander Zvonkin is a great read and example of this. It recounts experiences running a math circle for preschoolers and really highlights the value of play, curiosity, and open exploration. From personal experience, and as noted here, this approach is valuable for everyone regardless of age. In the short term it's far more efficient to learn by having the right way 'pushed' to you. However, by taking the time to fail, repeatedly, and eventually 'pulling' that knowledge the tacit understanding you build has a depth that's hard to shortcut.
• helpfulmandrill 8d ago
  I can remember a lot from being a child. Mostly a sense of frustration and powerlessness. But also the way in which things seemed more interesting than they do now. Like I could be fascinated by watching a tree sway in the wind in a way which wouldn't happen now - at least, not without conscious, meditation style effort. I remember when an hour seemed like an almost intolerably long stretch of time. I also remember loads of events in visual detail, though I'm terrible at remembering when they happened.
  • Aeolun 7d ago
    I'm pretty sure if you just sit down on the sofa, do not stare at any screen, and do not read any book, and just start counting. Suddenly an hour will be back to an intolerably long stretch of time.
• mettamage 8d ago
  Just reacting to the title: really? I remember a lot about my childhood and I'm in my mid thirties.
• Razengan 8d ago
  This is something I've noticed and wondered about since a long time Maybe we should stop "belittling" children into "acting like grown ups" as if the former was something to be ashamed of and the latter something proud to aspire to. This happens even among children within different age groups just 1-2 years apart! Wtf
• Lifetrajectory 8d ago
  Your approach helps expand our children's imaginations to such an extent that they learn to think outside the box even at the preschool age, which will enable them to make better decisions in their lives.
• axionbraid 8d ago
  [flagged]
• branon 8d ago
  I mostly remember how it felt to be a child and it's extremely important to me that I continue to do so as I get older. The best days of my life are when I can capture the perfect nostalgia, or deja vu, of the past when I was much younger. Sometimes only for a split second, sometimes longer. Increasingly I believe it's one of the few things in life that truly matters on an existential level: how children feel, and how we feel about (ourselves as) children. Would appreciate recommendations for reading material about this.
  • Aeolun 7d ago
    I'm not sure if reading material will help as much as playing tag.
  • mitxela 7d ago
    Wouldn't it be much better to capture the same feeling with new stuff rather than nostalgia? As a child I played RuneScape and I recently got into Oldschool RuneScape. It's clearly the same engine and it's a lot of the same content but it's very much not exactly the same, as they've rebalanced everything, added new content, and shifted all the metas. But it has the same feeling to it (unlike RuneScape 3). Or how about this - I used to play with Lego Technic, but now I can build full-scale things by screwing together metal extrusions and wooden planks and beams and other parts. Make sure to sweep/vacuum up metal shavings from your floor immediately - learned that the hard way. Sawdust isn't as bad. Learning Go felt a bit like learning BASIC again - I just banged out code and the computer did what I wanted - although I wouldn't recommend it as a first language because of all the "if err". You need some pre-existing experience to not ignore your responsibility to write "if err" everywhere. Today I'm going to make a pasta dish, with tomato, olives, bell peppers, onion, and fresh picked parsley. Haven't made a dish like that in ages, and I've never bought a live parsley plant from the supermarket before. It's a little thing, but it's still neat. I'm aware that it probably tastes exactly the same as dried parsley.
• jan_m_savage 8d ago
  Actually, most people are still children, in adult bodies. Just observe aggressively and you will notice a lot of childhood patterns at work in adult life around you.
  • Aeolun 7d ago
    I mean, yeah, but they're mostly the high-school patterns where things started to get nasty. Until 8 or so it better.
    • jan_m_savage 7d ago
      Where I live even 8-yo's have nasty patterns. But it's generally less so, I agree.
• downut 8d ago
  The concepts TT describes are very patiently and pleasantly explained in the recent book "The Score", by C. Thi Nguyen.
• dpflan 8d ago
  Wordsworth wrote that “the child is the father of the man.” ————- William Wordsworth 1770 – 1850 My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.
• Balgair 8d ago
  All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Le Petit Prince." While I love de Saint-Exupéry generally, even in his time (especially?), he knew that not all children got to be children. Hell, I think even in his childhood, he never really got to be a child. The reason not many remember it is because for some, they really don't want to.
• 12967-12986 7d ago
  Children also resist, and adults used to resist as well. Politely outlining coping strategies while taking money from the "AI for math" fund and SAIR doesn't do anything except Tao can point at it later any say "I was concerned". Maybe if adults get more unruly again and say "stop this IP theft and concentration of capital" people will have more radical math ideas, too. Politicians would listen to math professors but they stay silent.
• joquarky 7d ago
  Adults justify everything they do by relating how it adds to their productivity. Even a vacation anecdote must include something about how the break is justified by increasing net productivity.
• VibeVid 7d ago
  Yeah, but some adult have their babes,and cannot be child anymore.
• VibeVid 7d ago
  I still love disney and barbie!