They can live up to like 10x as long, and yet they really aren't any more advanced, or exceptional compared to the races of men. What are they doing all the time that men can be comparably skilled at anything, despite having between 1/3 and 1/10 the life span? Are elves really lazy, or do they just svck at learning things?

Yeah ive always wondered that. If a human could be an ultimate badass warrior in only 30-40 years then how come a 1000 year old high elf isn't a badass warrior, mage, thief, bard, priest, assassin, etc. I mean he can become a badass wizard in only like 200 years, and the rest of the time he can split between learning how to fight with weapons and sneaking and making potions or whatever.

But yeah the world doesn't seem to reflect that elves live so much longer then other races, otherwise they should be more badass at everything they do basically.

I wondered this about Mass effect, too. Like why are the Salarians the best scientists when they only live like 20 years, whereas the Asari can live up to like 1000 and seem to be utterly useless when it comes to things like the genophage,

It's not a matter of race it's a matter of hard work, an Altmer that is only 20 that aspires to be a warrior can reach the same strength as a human that started out being a warrior at 20 if they train hard enough and Mer politics and cultures actually are more advanced save for the Bosmer and the Orsimer who prefer to live as tribals or a more less culturally extravagant lifestyle.

For instance the Dunmer managed to achieve a perfect society where all potential uprisings and house wars are settled through the Morag Tong or political maneuvers whereas the human races would've just ended up revolting instead of bothering with it politically i.e. the stormcloak rebellion. Also comparing fighting styles and magical advancements both the Dunmeri and the Altmeri have advanced quite ahead of the humans races whereas humans just end up learning the basics of warfare, in fact Tiber knew he could never take Morrowind or the Aldmeri Dominion because of how advanced in tactical warfare the Dunmer were and how advanced in magical and naval warfare the Altmer were.

True. The so called "great" Tiber Septim nearly soiled his armor, when he thought he would have to face the Dunmer and the tribunal head on.