Excerpt from a May 2022 interview featuring Dr. Arthur C. Brooks discussing how career-ageing affects cognitive abilities and happiness. Brooks explains that fluid intelligence peaks in the 20s–30s then declines in the 40s–50s, argues people must adopt a "second intelligence curve," and frames this transition as part of a "happiness retirement plan."
The problem is that what makes you good is not something that you can maintain. And, you know, there's a lot of. I'm a social scientist. I teach happiness at Harvard University, believe it or not. And, you know, people ask, what do you teach? And I say, happiness. They think of lying. How can that possibly be? Only Americans, right, could have a subject like this. And one of the things that you find is that what people who are real strivers, hard workers, excellent people, my students, you, a lot of people listening to us, who really want to do a lot with their lives, they get better and better and better in their 20s and 30s, but things start to get harder in their 40s and 50s. 50s. And this has to do with the structure of intelligence. There's a thing called fluid intelligence that gets better in your 20s and 30s and worse in your 40s and 50s. And if you don't understand that, you're going to have a lot of frustration facing you. You need to get on a second intelligence curve. And that's what this book is really all about. Your happiness retirement plan requires getting on your second curve.
