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Confessions of a Neotenous Man

Bryan Caplan reflects on maintaining childlike psychological traits into adulthood—prioritizing fun over duties, embracing curiosity and imagination, and rejecting retirement—while acknowledging how his youthful mindset occasionally puts his aging body at risk.

Neotenous is also a wonderful (relative) neologism.

www.betonit.ai →

Connections

Supports

I Should Have Loved Biology Both pieces valorize sustained curiosity and wonder as adult virtues; 'I Should Have Loved Biology' reflects on recapturing childlike intellectual excitement, which Caplan argues should never be abandoned
The Creative Power of Invisibility Both pieces argue that resisting dominant social scripts—maturity norms or visibility pressures—enables a more genuine and productive creative or intellectual identity

Related to

The Uni-Context: A Philosopher's One-Word Theory to Explain Why the World Feels So Weird Both are idiosyncratic personal-philosophy essays examining how individuals should orient themselves against the grain of prevailing social and cultural expectations
Taste Is All That's Left Both are reflective essays on what remains authentically valuable in intellectual and creative adult life when external pressures and conventional expectations are stripped away

Challenges

Three Important Steps in My Maturation Process Caplan explicitly rejects conventional maturation narratives—prioritizing fun over duties and resisting 'growing up'—directly challenging the value of the maturation process the other piece celebrates

Aphantasia Beginner's Guide Both deal with introspective self-understanding of cognitive/psychological identity — aphantasia as a neurological difference, neotenous identity as a developmental one — framed around discovering and accepting how one's mind differs from the norm

Supported by

Microduck: Tiny Biped Robot Microduck's 'delightful' small biped form embodies neoteny in design — cute, small, playful robots are a deliberate design choice that resonates with the themes of neotenous appeal discussed in the essay

Type:	link
First published:	Wednesday, 26 August 2026 at 19:25 UTC
Location:	https://www.betonit.ai/p/reflections-of-a-neotenous-man
URL:	https://mattwood.fyi/i/9c9c41da

I'm Matt Wood, and this is For Your Information. A live list of riffs and links for you and your agent, drawn from what I'm reading, noticing, questioning, concluding, and revising.

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