* Fluid vs Crystallized Intelligence?*

Fluid intelligence refers to the ability to solve problems, innovate, and learn new things, and it tends to peak in a person's late thirties or early forties before declining. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, is based on accumulated knowledge and experiences, and it continues to increase through the forties, fifties, and even sixties, remaining high into the seventies and eighties. While fluid intelligence rewards progress and novelty, crystallized intelligence rewards wisdom, pattern recognition, vocabulary, and teaching ability. Creative careers that rely heavily on fluid intelligence, like poetry, tend to have a half-life around age forty, while careers that depend on crystallized intelligence, like history, peak later in life, around age sixty-five. The goal in midlife is to transition from the fluid intelligence curve to the crystallized intelligence curve by leveraging accumulated knowledge and experience. The podcast mentioned in the snip is a manifestation of crystallized intelligence, as it involves teaching and sharing knowledge.