Extending the creative lifespan
In each creative field, whether art, science, or invention, the creator's productivity goes through a characteristic trajectory: it builds up, reaches a peak age of creative productivity, and then tends to drop off over the rest of the lifespan. The curve looks different in different fields; for example, in math and physics, productivity shoots up early in life, for a peak age of creativity around 30. Physicists joke that "if you haven't done your Nobel-prize work by the time you're thirty, it's not going to happen." But in other fields the peak age is substantially older; in the arts and the humanities, it's usually in the fifties. And good news for those of us who are past the peak age: the drop-off can be very slight (and tends to be slighter as the peak age gets higher). E read more »
