“In a letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus noted that an old man is in an ideal position to open his mind to new ideas “in consequence of his absence of fear for the future.” An old man does not have to fret about his next move because the chess game is over. He is free to think about any damned thing he chooses.”

Travels With Epicurus by Daniel Klein

I have often had some version of this hurled at me: “Easy for you to say – you’re retired” or “You can talk because you have a tenured position.” And I’ve never denied this, because those of us in “ideal positions” are able to consider radical ideas because “the chess game is over.” But instead of seeing this as something that disqualified me from participation in the discussion, I see it as an advantage I have over those who are spending all of their energy and attention simply trying to survive and inch forward. It seems to me that a large portion of new ideas that, when eventually adopted, turn out to be game changers are made by people secure enough to risk imagining a new direction.