How wise would a 1000 year old be?

[Why?]

If we could live perpetually, would we continue to get wiser or is there a limit?

[nietzschefan]

Ask my Mayor:

[mikenostic]

Well, I'll go under the assumption that we wouldn't lose our minds (i.e. go senile, alzheimers, brain damage, memory loss, etc.), I'd say a 1000 year old would be pretty dang wise. They would have a thousand years worth of knowledge and wisdom.
I'm sure their IQ would at least match their age.

[Why?]

But, can our brains remember a 1000 years of lessons? I forget all sorts of stuff.

[Orleander]

some people learn everything the hard way...over and over and over. I don't think age defines wisdom.

[Why?]

That's true. People do repeat the same mistakes. Why? Don't they remember? No - because they don't make the connection. These people may be limited in how wise they can become.

[sniffy]

Why?

[cosmictraveler]

That's true. People do repeat the same mistakes. Why? Don't they remember? No - because they don't make the connection. These people may be limited in how wise they can become.

Or they are just plain stupid.

[orcot]

Or they are just plain stupid.

No that's not it, in a way you become smarter I gues youl get a better image in the evolution of social behavior and you'l be able the quote a lot of death people. But does that make you smarther? I don't really think so true you would live longer and lurn a lot it the process but then again you would have a lot more time to make mistakes.

[Orleander]

A man with Downs' Syndrome isn't as smart as most people sitting in prison, but he is definitely wiser.

[Why?]

Well, when the prisoner's released, isn't the prisoner now wiser?

[Orleander]

Well, when the prisoner's released, isn't the prisoner now wiser?

LMAO!!! Yeah, once they are let out, they never go back. Again, some people have to learn the hard way...over and over and..

[madanthonywayne]

It would totally depend on how they managed to live to be 1000 years old. The human eye, for instance, doesn't work properly past the age of forty. Every organ system (including your brain) begins to fail as you age. To live to be 1000 would require some kind of nanotech or genetic engineering to constantly repair your body and brain.

Assuming this technology allowed your mind to continue to operate at peak efficiency, then yes, your "wisdom" would increase. But there would be a powerful tendency towards becoming overly conservative and set in your ways.

[Exhumed]

Excerpt from Heinlen's Methuselah's Children (you can guess from the title why it's relevant):

...

He was all right. I had quite a set-to with him at the Meeting in 2012. He had a powerful vocabulary." Lazerus frowned slightly. "Funny thing, Andy... I recall that vividly. I've always had a good memory--yet it seems to be getting harder for me to keep things straight. Especially this last century."

"Inescapable mathematical necessity," said Libby.

"Huh. Why?"

"Life experience is linearly additive, but the correlation of memory impressions is an unlimited expansion. If mankind lived as long as a thousand years, it would be necessary to invent some totally different method of memory association, in order to be eclectively time-binding. A man would otherwise flounder helplessly in the wealth of his own knowledge, unable to evaluate. Insanity, or feeble-mindedness."

"That so?" Lazarus suddenly looked worried. "Then we'd better get busy on it."

"Oh, it's quite possible of solution."

"Let's work on it. Let's not get caught short."

...

After that something interrupted them. They probably come back to it, but I got bored of the book, so I'm not sure.

[Why?]

Wow. So after 1000 years you would actually get dumber? Never thought of that.

[draqon]

wise as death itself.

[EmptyForceOfChi]

wise as death itself.

that just doesent make any sense.

peace.

[draqon]

that just doesent make any sense.

peace.

meaning not wise at all. A wise old man is a dead old man, no need to live in an old body when you have reincarnation process going on.

[EmptyForceOfChi]

meaning not wise at all. A wise old man is a dead old man, no need to live in an old body when you have reincarnation process going on.

how are you wise if you are dead?,

peace.

[draqon]

how are you wise if you are dead?,

peace.

not wise at all, if you are already alive