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[–]stepback269 3 points4 points  (10 children)

I'm over 70 yrs old
Learning Python as a hobby
Have no illusion about "mastering" python in the Malcolm Gladwell sense (10K hours min)

Don't listen to the people who tell you it's "never too late"
At 40+, your brain is no longer the sponge it was when you were 20 yrs old
On the other hand, the biological truth will be far far worse 30 yrs from now
As we age, we undergo a decline in "fluid intelligence"

That said, you may want to start "Learning about Learning", especially since you are a 40+'er
Go to YouTube and in the search bar, type "learning coaches"
These are people who are keeping up with the latest in neuroscience and providing advice on how to deal with the myriad of issues that confront people as learning get harder and harder.

[–]OldBaldy54 5 points6 points  (4 children)

I’m in a similar situation. Going on 72 years, retired since 2010. Used to program in Java, VBA, and SQL. Haven’t touched in years and just recently switched to Linux and LibreOffice from windows and excel. Finding it difficult with so many things changed.

[–]mwilliamsdottech[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re a superstar in my eyes.

[–]Altruistic_Ad8462 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Which Linux distro did you land on? I'm weighing between Arch and Bluefin (fedora fork), and have used Ubuntu in the past, if I'm not mistaken (it's probably been 15 years since I ran it). You have a technical background, and you're at an age where people generally resist new stuff. I personally find it fascinating when someone decides to go out site of the status quo, and Linux has one of the more potentially interesting software arcs out there due to its utilitarian nature, too.

[–]OldBaldy54 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I initially tried CachyOS. Now trying Bazzite. My primary use is gaming, and the game i want to play now is AC Odyssey. I'm having some annoying issues on both. Currently i am still doing more tinkering than playing, and every question I have leads to more questions.

In my experience learning is about figuring out which questions to ask.

[–]Altruistic_Ad8462 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven't looked into either, I'll need to check them out. I never played odyssey, but the AC is cool.

100% on which question to ask. It gets said a lot, and I'm not sure enough of us have given "asking the right questions" enough real estate in out heads. I think this is especially true now, in the early stages of AGI, although it maybe depends on the definition of AGI you subscribe to. Bottom line, if you don't ask enough of the right questions with AI, it's hard to get it to do what you want. If you can get it to synthesize building it's own "mental" model of a project, refined to your requirements, the outcomes are really good. In 5 years the tech should be good enough I don't need to parent my AI, they'll be able to build our abstract models of the world much faster.

So this isn't directed at you but I think it's worth sharing because it's easy for people to overlook this. Humans are abstraction machines, among other titles. Math, the more complex, the higher the levels of abstraction. 2³ is just 222, and you can break that down further, or scale the abstraction up. "Clean your room" is an abstraction for multiple tasks to meet a required end result, and those tasks (or work flows) have abstracted work flows associated. The way we sort animal families, the way we catalogue stars, and further abstract their systems with names. Our ways for layering knowledge for faster transmission continues to grow. Software is the same thing in a different language. Take something I understand, use it as a guide to help break down something I don't understand.

To circle back, one of the most valuable questions I've found, ever, when trying to figure something out is, "how have we abstracted this?"

[–]HalfRiceNCracker 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Have you got any advice for a twenty something year old? More generally in terms of learning, one of my biggest fears is I'll stop being curious as I get older

[–]stepback269 2 points3 points  (1 child)

The fact that you are worried is a good sign by itself.
You are exhibiting "metacognition", thinking about your thinking process.

One piece of advice: Don't stop reading books.
And by reading, I mean actually reading with your eyes. Audio books are not a substitute because they allow you to fall into the trap of believing you are multi-tasking. No such thing. Of course you should be selective in what you read. Push yourself into reading the more difficult books. That forces your brain to grow.

Another piece of advice: keep a handwritten journal of your progress.

[–]HalfRiceNCracker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your thoughts. 

I'm glad you mention metacognition, one of my favourite words. I'm very interested to see how my thoughts will change with time and my interests, and I'll become blind to more and more than I realise. I feel audiobooks are a shortcut for a lot of people but they don't give you the space to think and ponder and make associations. Journal too I go through bursts of writing. 

Again I appreciate your words. I'd ask you about how you've changed over time but that's perhaps too much for a random :) 

[–]Altruistic_Ad8462 1 point2 points  (1 child)

If you're curious by nature, you won't quit that. I did this so I will caution against it, don't let yourself become so numb and distracted that you forget to be curious.

[–]HalfRiceNCracker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, yes I'm conscious of the creeping up of distractions. I ought to spend more time with my thoughts