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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 25, 2026

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What does "fully" developed mean?

My cynical interpretation is "it's only downhill from there".

If you want cynicism then the next step is "They still can't be held responsible because science says now their brains are in decline". Heads they win, tails you lose.

It doesn't take achieving the utmost zenith of cerebral maturation to grasp that robbing a gun shop is breaking the law and invites serious consequences, and as such the matter of peak brain development is moot. Normal brain development for their age is more than adequate. And if they cynically calculate that claiming inadequate brain development is a mitigation then by the same token they should lose their remaining adult privileges.

Yep, I think there are two points at which the brain could be said to no longer be developing -- one is when it begins to decline as you suggest. And the other is death, as indicated by the aphorism "Biologists have a special word for 'stable': dead".