We were all 18 year olds, but we (hopefully) never stalked and harassed women, as is noted in TFA.

And don't use autism as an excuse - my mother teaches autistic teenagers and none of them have committed amoral stuff such as violence and harassment.

Also, an 18 year old is an adult.

Only just an adult. A few years, the hormones might calm down and, well, if we gave up on all 18 year old adults there wouldn't be too many of us left.

Don't judge the future, create the future.

> A few years, the hormones might calm down and, well, if we gave up on all 18 year old adults there wouldn't be too many of us left

Boys will be boys /s

I cannot believe I saw someone give this kind of a statement on HN.

I'm more surprised by your comment, to be honest.

Autism is a spectrum.

The idea that we should, to some extent, excuse physical violence for 18-year-olds is disturbing.

I don't believe I advocated for excusing their behavior, but I don't think it's fair to label a kid as "a violent person who can't control themselves"

I disagree in most cases of 18-year-olds specifically, but even if I didn't, I think you should amend your original post to make your point more specific. It's hard to read it as not excusing his violence to some degree based on the comment you were replying to, even with a generous reading.

The idea that we should, to some extent, organize society around neurotics to the detriment of young boys is disturbing.

This is an 18 year old adult.

No one is adult at 18. Your brain is not mature fully until 25. Anyone who has experienced the age and has normal intelligence knows this.

Ackshully, executive function (what we really care about) hits max and stabilizes at around 18: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F92-L1sXUAAXjkf?format=jpg&name=...

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42540-8

Plenty of 18 year olds do amazingly responsible things with positive impacts on society.

I recall being quite cognizant of adult thoughts & adult responsibility at age 14.

At age 20 I created something with friends that has led to multiple tens of millions of research funding for college students.

Many highly intelligent high school students compete in science & engineering competitions beyond levels of college & graduate level students.

People age and mature differently.

How many people have made mistakes and learned/grew from them.

He's a child give him time.

This, indeed, rather than label an 18 year old - whether he's legally an adult or not - as violent and unable to learn, and throw them in a cage for the rest of their lives.