After that, thirties hits and you can't say that you're fresh out of college, or just graduated a few years ago. I think you start to look back and want some validation for the way your life is going.
I'm also over 30 and am still motivated to try and learn to do lots of new things well. I expect this to last my entire life, I'm just too curious to stop. Needing to reassure myself it's not "too late" is a sad consequence of the group-think you're describing.
Must be, because I've never heard of it, nor did I experience it; I don't expect 40 will be any different.
Again, excellent point.
Maybe I am misreading this. But I am not sure why you think so. A lot of what goes by "hacking" is common to the first and third worlds. Often it is even more effective in a third world country where a little bit of appropriate technology can have a serious impact on the lives of a lot of people.
For whatever reason (base 10 maybe?) we latch on to 30 as the time by which we should have some proof that we are on the right track. You can always beat yourself up at any age by comparing yourself to others. If you're in college, look at a Galois or a Joan of Arc and you're already a complete failure.