On: D. J. Bernstein

[raganwald]

the advantages of being young is being able to approach a field without having to take sides.

You must be describing your youth, not mine! My experience with youth is that it was the period of my life in which the whites were blindingly white, the blacks impossibly back, and there were no colours or shades of grey to distract us from our belief that we knew exactly what was right and what was wrong.

And thank goodness, because a belief in right and wrong can propel you to change the world while you have the energy to carry it through :-)

[rortian → raganwald]

It's a far point. I was referring to youth in the twenties sense. Of course younger than that you are quite right. Immaturity is a bitch.

Unfortunately, certitude can also lead people to be fierce advocates of the status quo.

[madair → rortian]

Heheh. Spoken like a person in their 20s