Pride

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Razorfish

SNIP By far the worst people to debate with are the elderly. These people are so set in their ways that it makes debate with them pointless. You can have a near-flawless arguement only to have an elderly person completely ignore it and accuse you of lacking wisdom or just repeat their arguement over and over. I've met a few older people who embrace new ideas and are willing to debate but not many. SNIP

Maybe these people have been cheated, flim-flamed and generally screwed so many times they are wary of your "creativity". Also, when they're on a fixed income, they're decisions are more critical and ability to recover from mistakes very difficult, if not impossible.
They've probably talked to everyone they know and trust and have an idea of what they want. You said yourself, there are many different ways to put a machine together and some people as knowledgeable as yourself, disagree with your approach.

Personally I think the world would benefit if we were all intellectuals, but thats just my opinion

WARNING! WARNING! DANGER, Will Robinson. Person describing themselves as an intellectual. WARNING. DANGER.
If everyone was an intellectual, nothing would get done because they all think they're right and will debate everything, forever. :p