More praise for Guy Browning

This one's actually from a couple of weeks ago. His more recent ones haven't been that good. But here's Guy Browning on "How to.... understand":

"Understanding is something few people really understand. Most people do overstanding, which is thinking you know about something without taking the trouble to find out about it. Beware of people who tell you they understand: it generally means they are tired of listening [...]

Understanding comes in four phases: ignorance, knowledge, experience, understanding. Both first and fourth phases are blissful, while the other two are painful. Some people make the mistake of amassing knowledge and experience in spades without ever getting understanding. This has all the disadvantages of ignorance with none of the bliss.

Traditional cultures respect the elderly because of their greater understanding. Modern culture venerates youth and inexperience. Raising the retirement age will therefore be a great way of reducing the total ignorance in the workplace."

Frankly, I'm not sure if I agree with the third paragraph. The thought of the retirement age being raised in my office fills me with dread...... but I can see now why it's such a blissful workplace...