We've been brainwashed to believe that succeeding in the information age demands more education (i.e. credentials) than ever before. These days, a BA is simply what a high-school diploma used to be. And a period of extended dependency is the price you've got to pay to become a functional adult in the information age.

But is the price too high? Maybe the postponement of adulthood is a spectacular waste of human potential. A lot of those 20-somethings, trapped in the ever-longer twilight zone between adolescence and adulthood, are aimless, frustrated, a little angry, and mildly depressed. They're not in control of their lives. Instead of plunging into the world of productive work, they spend years piling up more "credentials" as they try to figure out what they really want to do and waiting for just the right self-actualizing opportunity to come along.

“We've trapped all of our young people in this idiotic world of teen culture,” he says. “All their models are imbeciles – you don't have to look far to find exemplars that support the belief that teens are incompetent and irresponsible. But none of this tells you what teen competence is. It goes beyond what you see. It's about what's possible.”

In fact, with the help of other experts in adult development, Dr. Epstein and his colleague Diane Dumas developed a test to measure 14 skill sets that distinguish adults from non-adults – and on questions covering everything from knowledge of sex to citizenship to math proficiency, differences between teen and adult scores were negligible.

So, let's imagine for a moment what happens when scores of competent young people actually pass tests allowing them to vote, drink, own property and work at meaningful jobs instead of attending high school (which Dr. Epstein characterizes as more like a prison than a place of true learning).

It would be what Dr. Epstein calls an ageless society. “In some ways, it will look like society used to look,” he says. “There was a time when it was very common for a 12-year-old to go into a bar. If the 12-year-old behaved irresponsibly, the 12-year-old would be treated harshly – just like a 30-year-old.”