@freemo Welll... aren't you ageist! ;)
People who scam older people (or scam anyone for that matter) really should not be allowed on the internet. <--- Fixed that for ya!
@Lunatech Do you think a 12 year old should be allowed to drive a car, own a gun, and have full self-autonomy like a person of any other age? If not you're ageist.
@Lunatech I also want to point out that while a test doesnt measure mature, neither does age, nor is it even a good approximation.
@freemo I realize that too, but unfortunately test results and age are the only two things we know how to use to measue when someone has reached a certain level of maturity required. And age may well be the worst in many situations, but it's also fairer to certain marginalized people who don't do well on tests (or when the tests were constructed with a deliberate bias). If there is a third option particularly a fairer one, I am not aware of it.
Omit age, improve tests, monitor future and historic demonstration of capabilities.
Age is the leqast fair of all since it discreminates explicitly against age. Tests may be bias but atleast it is incidental and possible to improve it.
@freemo Only thing I can say about that is that a test doesn't measure maturity nor the ability to draw upon experience. Many 10 year olds could probably pass a driving test but would they know how to react in an emergency situation?
Then again, the same could probably be said about many 40 year olds, so I kind of see your point. I actually think we will all be a lot safer when ALL cars are self-driving AND the AI technology has been developed to the point that cars are not randomly hitting pedestrians, or plowing into the back ends of stalled cars on the side of the road. Right now self driving cars are about at the same stage of development as early steam locomotives - every now and then one's going to blow up on you!
Now, would I trust an 8-year-old with a gun? Maybe one that's been raised by responsible parents in a loving home environment and that has never been bullied at school, and that has taken gun safety courses and passed a test. But here we have the maturity factor. When I was in Junior High, there were a couple of builles that I fervently hoped would meet an early demise - who knows what might have happened if I'd had an alcoholic dad and access to a gun (fortunately I had neither)? The problem with testing is it can't reveal any of the things that might trigger someone to use a gun in an irresponsible manner. Of course that again is something that's also true of 40-year-olds so maybe no one should have guns?
And why we ever give anyone the right to smoke tobacco has always been beyond me - I never smoked and I hated it when people around me smoked, so much that I stopped attending public events. You know that if tobacco were just introduced today it would immediately be banned as an addictive and harmful substance; it would be right up there with heroin and cocaine. But because there is a big multimillion dollar industry behind it, it's allowed. And that fact is one of the reasons I hate living on this planet, we are so stupid about our policies. People in some states still get jailed for using pot but you can smoke all the tobacco you want? Where the hell is the sense in that? At least now we try to keep people from doing it in public places although if the fucking Republicans had their way I am sure those restrictions would disappear!