I'm 43 - now that I know that the ability to create random numbers could be an indication of having a heathy or youthful brain, I know have enough knowledge to fake this test.<p>If I'm ever asked to provide a string of random numbers by a cognitive scientist or a doctor, I'll be certain to do my best and then apply external randomness to my individual guesses.<p>For example, I'll take the last phrase the scientist says to me - "please give me list of five random numbers from one to 10 ", and I'll apply the number of letters in each word of the sentence to each of my individual numbers and then modulo the answer to fit the range.<p>That way, with my old-age-cleverness, I'll hopefully be able to simulate a 25 year old.
Reminds me of the Aaronson Oracle: <a href="http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nick/aaronson-oracle/" rel="nofollow">http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nick/aaronson-oracle/</a><p>It's a simple algorithm to predict human-generated coin flips by exploiting our aversion to extremes.
Aren't "look random to somebody else" and "be random" two totally different things?<p>How can they tell that 1234561234 is not the result of a 10 x random dice roll?<p>What's the probability of a real RNG being considered better/worse than a 25 year old?<p>Related Dilbert:<p><a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25" rel="nofollow">http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25</a>
When I was 25, I made the choice to quit my job as a hw engineer and travel the world. After a year, I decided to do sw instead. Haven't looked back since.<p>It wasn't exactly a random decision, but I remember the question was as simple as, "Should I just do it...?"
This makes an assumption that you are not living in poverty. More than age, I personally feel the need to have a sufficient bank balance, which can make you financially independent and empower you to do whatever the fuck you want!