Nah man, you were right. Brain development is an appropriate metric, more so than random laws made by probable pedos. Not sure why the user you responded to said brain development has nothing to do with adulthood. I’d say it’s more sound than whatever we decide at the time because it fits a narrative and benefits our societies (which are still often exploitive)
So do you think 30 year olds should be considered children, legally? Some intermediate thing where they get some rights but not all?
Adulthood, as a human concept as opposed to a strict biological classification, is a medley of biological, legal and social definitions. Do you exist in society independently, or under the explicit social umbrella of your guardian? Do we find you legally capable of bearing guilt? Are you physically mature?
Can you answer those questions with an fMRI? We can estimate age with one, but that just gets back to where we are now. We can measure brain connectivity, which is associated with the frontal cortex properties we associate with responsibility. The inflection point we see is around 15, and the growth rate after that is largely subsumed by the margin of error between individuals. We can also see that the brain doesn’t really stop developing those connections.
None of that answers the primary questions of what constitutes adulthood for humans.
Given that the comment thread started with assertions about how 29 year olds act and behave in society and what’s to be expected of them responsibility wise, it’s clearly a discussion about the social aspects of adulthood, not the biological measurement of brain maturity.
You’re right it’s definitely a nuanced topic where a bunch of questions like this, along with things like the brains development and maturation as a machine into 30-mid 30s would be important to discuss.
All I know is politicians who obviously can’t be trusted make laws that allow the interests of their donors/lobbyists to decide people can drink/smoke their products, go into porn/to war etc. Not an actual interest, understanding and desire to make sure people are allowed their inalienable independence while also “protecting” them.
I also know I was a hopped up lil shit who was more than happy to find my own ways of accessing things only adults should have, after gaining adult status felt like not only me but the people my age around me weren’t capable of realizing the actual repercussions of some of the choices we were making and even now I can’t fathom thinking I’ll be done developing until I hit dementia and/or death.
Maybe what we have now (varies across societies) is best but I’d think if we put our minds to it we could come up with something better. That being said if I feel so inclined to partake & given the option, I’ll still chose a Midwest bar with a 25-30+ age limit over the anyone over 21 option
Ah, my apologies then. I don’t agree with the parameters the thread OP defined.
Nah man, you were right. Brain development is an appropriate metric, more so than random laws made by probable pedos. Not sure why the user you responded to said brain development has nothing to do with adulthood. I’d say it’s more sound than whatever we decide at the time because it fits a narrative and benefits our societies (which are still often exploitive)
So do you think 30 year olds should be considered children, legally? Some intermediate thing where they get some rights but not all?
Adulthood, as a human concept as opposed to a strict biological classification, is a medley of biological, legal and social definitions. Do you exist in society independently, or under the explicit social umbrella of your guardian? Do we find you legally capable of bearing guilt? Are you physically mature?
Can you answer those questions with an fMRI? We can estimate age with one, but that just gets back to where we are now. We can measure brain connectivity, which is associated with the frontal cortex properties we associate with responsibility. The inflection point we see is around 15, and the growth rate after that is largely subsumed by the margin of error between individuals. We can also see that the brain doesn’t really stop developing those connections.
None of that answers the primary questions of what constitutes adulthood for humans.
Given that the comment thread started with assertions about how 29 year olds act and behave in society and what’s to be expected of them responsibility wise, it’s clearly a discussion about the social aspects of adulthood, not the biological measurement of brain maturity.
You’re right it’s definitely a nuanced topic where a bunch of questions like this, along with things like the brains development and maturation as a machine into 30-mid 30s would be important to discuss.
All I know is politicians who obviously can’t be trusted make laws that allow the interests of their donors/lobbyists to decide people can drink/smoke their products, go into porn/to war etc. Not an actual interest, understanding and desire to make sure people are allowed their inalienable independence while also “protecting” them.
I also know I was a hopped up lil shit who was more than happy to find my own ways of accessing things only adults should have, after gaining adult status felt like not only me but the people my age around me weren’t capable of realizing the actual repercussions of some of the choices we were making and even now I can’t fathom thinking I’ll be done developing until I hit dementia and/or death.
Maybe what we have now (varies across societies) is best but I’d think if we put our minds to it we could come up with something better. That being said if I feel so inclined to partake & given the option, I’ll still chose a Midwest bar with a 25-30+ age limit over the anyone over 21 option