>From: Paul Chapman <estarriol_at_...>
>
>Right. My personal theory is that this is all to do with the evolution
>of communication.
While I think that the wisdom factor is important, I think there are other factors. Elders act as child care providers while those able to work are out doing it. So they do pull their load in a significant way. It's only with the advent of school that this function becomes more socialized.
Further experience tends (tends, mind you), to give a person gravitas. That is, older people are respected simply because they've learned how to command said respect over time. Remember that, as humans, we don't always see straight through to the biological imperatives, and that a skillful person can make themselves seem more important than, perhaps, they actually are.
That's not to say that old folks don't have experience to pass on, they do of course. Just that some of the respect is probably also based on their social skills. Note how those old folks who do not have such social skills are actually disenfranchised as being a burden instead of a benefit to their people? If they have both a lack of social skills, but a wealth of experience to deliver which still makes them valuable, that makes them "eccentric." Which isn't quite "respected."
Mike
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