Ashtavakra (say "ahsh-tah-vah-krah") was still a boy when he turned up at King Janaka's gate, in the Mahabharata, hoping to get into the king's great ceremony. The guard stopped him with a perfectly sensible rule: only old, learned men allowed. Ashtavakra didn't argue with the rule. He argued that he met it. Real growth, he said, can't be read off a body, any more than the knots on a tree tell you how old it is. He got in, and beat the court philosopher in debate. Age was simply the easiest thing for the guard to check. You'll run a few gates like that today, deciding who's worth hearing by how sure they sound or how long they've been around. At one of them, ask one real question before you decide.