Whether this is true in general or not, there are enough counterexamples to demonstrate that it’s entirely possible to remain mathematically productive well into middle or even old age.
I agree with the “do what you love/love what you do” advice. The way to keep being productive and making breakthroughs is to spend a lot of time working at it and thinking about it and playing around with it, and you’re not going to do this unless you have an interest or passion or compulsion for it.
Maybe Trekkie Monster was right. Do most people really spend more than, let’s say, an hour a week doing that? Actually, I think I know the answer to that question.
Please link to your “job is doing nothing” thread.
Your second paragraph brings up a good point. I definitely felt cynicism gradually creep up over the years I was there, but I figured it just meant it was time to move on to another job. My work environment was relatively non-toxic, so I didn’t have to deal with some of your items, such as idiot bosses or layoffs.
This is important. It seems like to produce something good on a consistent basis, you have to be able to get absorbed in your work, which is difficult to do if you must always force yourself to do it, rather than it being something you enjoy and find interesting.
First off, Paul Erdos wasn’t half the mathematician at 80 as he was at 40. When he was younger, he never drank. At age 70, I saw him drink a half glass of wine at dinner and when I asked him he admitted he took a nip from time to time. By that time what he would do would visit people with a problem that interested him and work out a solution with them and then leave two weeks later letting them do the work of writing it up. That is why he had publications coming out for years after he died.
What I find (I am 72) is that I still have ideas but just don’t have either the energy or the concentration to carry them out. I think I could do a lot with younger collaborators. It used to be that collaboration among mathematicians was uncommon (probably less than 10% of papers had more than one author), but this has changed a lot in recent years.
Incidentallly, it is a myth that mathematicians do their best work in their 20s. A few do, but most do their best work in their 30s and early 40s. Wiles is a case in point. I did mine in my 30s. For the last ten years, I have done piddling stuff. Fortunately, I still enjoy it.
Isn’t half an Erdos still one hell of a mathematician? Also, I’m not sure what alcoholic consumption has to do with math, and half a glass of wine is hardly a symptom of raging alcoholism.
I see, so age-related productivity loss is due to loss of concentration and energy? It seems that those could be fought, perhaps with exercise or caffeine or something; I don’t know. I am relieved that becoming older won’t cause me to no longer have new ideas.
What happened after your 30s that caused you to be less productive? Did you just get tired of math or get distracted by your family or what?
The outlook is good for you. The book I read saying that most people peak in their early forties said that philosophy is a notable exception in that the peak is more like mid-fifties for reasons not entirely clear.
Perhaps Philosophy is one of those really deep things that only a lifetime of experience can give the clearest insight into.
There’s a clue right there! There have got to be jobs where cynicism is a big plus. Political pundit maybe. Look at William F Buckley – well, don’t dig up his grave, but he was writing into quite an old age.
