The development of the functions in mid-age is nonsensical

[MysticSonic]

I find that statement odd, seeing as how the brain actually DEGENERATES as you become older. Perhaps the degeneration of the brain occurs in such a way that it appears to be a "leveling out" of one's functional abilities? Or perhaps the degeneration of one's functional abilities causes one to become less adept at the use of one's preferred functions, thus forcing the individual to use their weaker functions in order to compensate for the loss.

It should be noted though that visuo-spatial abilities decline the greatest with age, thus I find it questionable that functions associated with this ability, such as introverted sensing, whose proficiency in this skill I am still uncertain of, would have any noticeable growth in functioning at all.

[Angel von Himmel]

That is odd, because men tend to get more sensible with age ... you think it would be the other way around.

[MysticSonic]

"And as an aside, not all people seem to see the use in developing other functions, making them act the same way all through life."

Which makes it all the more interesting.

"Everything is in a state of erosion and degeneration."

The brain's functional ability actually increases until about 20 or so, with a steep decrease in its development ocurring around 17. It then degenerates slowly after the age 25, with natural memory loss starting at age 30 or 40 I believe, although crystalized intellignece, the ability to apply one's previously learned knowledge, undergoes little degeneration until one hits their 50s, with fluid intelligence being the main recepient of said degeneration in ability.

[MysticSonic]

Do you get my point that I'm referring to "degeneration" as the decrease in one's potential ability to wield a function to one's whim?

[MysticSonic]

"Yes, but I don't agree. I was hoping that you didn't follow the same method of action that I did, and that you agreed."

The notion that mental capacities degenerate with age is a fact you can't deny.

[MysticSonic]

"I don't think that the degeneration is to such a great extent such that it would be a better explination to say that the strong functions "degenerated" instead of that the weak functions "learned". (This is shown by the notebook analogy.)"

Yes, the extent of it is debateable, but the stronger functions DO indeed degenerate with age, especially after 50.

[Cone]

Oh, don't drink to it yet. First off, I'd like to ask exactly what do you mean by "functional ability"?

[MysticSonic]

The ability for a function to gather or manipulate a piece of data associated with it.

It's just common sense that with the degeneration of the brain comes the decrease in one's ability to do some sort of cognitive task.

Edit- By degeneration of the brain, I mean a degeneration of the entire brain.

[science as magic]

Degredation of parts can be compensated for by better interaction between those parts. If the parts didn't degrade you would see continuous development but obviously the degradation eventually overtakes the positive influences of increased interoperability. A band of men fight as a group at the age of 20 and while each is in his prime the whole doesn't work with complete harmony, it is in a state of disunity. Over the next 10 years the men work together, they get to know the idiosyncracies that influence their behavior in combat, they drill together and as a result they are able to acccomplish more as a whole then they could at 20. Later they get old and die. The parts and the way the parts interact are both important.

[MysticSonic]

"Degredation of parts can be compensated for by better interaction between those parts. If the parts didn't degrade you would see continuous development but obviously the degradation eventually overtakes the positive influences of increased interoperability. A band of men fight as a group at the age of 20 and while each is in his prime the whole doesn't work with complete harmony, it is in a state of disunity. Over the next 10 years the men work together, they get to know the idiosyncracies that influence their behavior in combat, they drill together and as a result they are able to acccomplish more as a whole then they could at 20. Later they get old and die. The parts and the way the parts interact are both important."

Ah, ok. So it is only the potential ability that degrades with age, with the actual ability only degrading if it is equal to one's potential ability.