4 ms·

It's not an extremely rare talent. Virtually anyone can run/swim/play games. It's an arms race. Every one trains hard because others train hard. None of them a

It's not an extremely rare talent. Virtually anyone can run/swim/play games. It's an arms race. Every one trains hard because others train hard. None of them are inherently amazing. They just work a lot. If no-one bothered training we'd still have an Olympics, it'd just be slower.

LanceH 10y ago
I've phrased this as, "Regardless of the increased salary in the NFL over the last 40 years, they're still only producing one super bowl winner every year. On a per team basis, production has actually gone down."
rhizome 10y ago
Yours is a perspective that effectively renders the term "talent" meaningless.
- ktRolster 10y ago
  That's kind of the consensus modern psychology and trainers are coming to. Some kids just have a drive that others don't, and that is what determines how well they do. The major difficulty with the idea of "natural talent" is that every time someone points to a skill/whatever and says, "this is natural talent" someone else finds a way to teach that skill. Here is one paper: http://talentdevelop.com/articles/ITROM.html http://talentdevelop.com/articles/ITROM.html
  - Eutow 10y ago
    So if you trained hard enough you could run the 100m as fast as Bolt?
    - ktRolster 10y ago
      "Body shape" isn't what people usually mean by 'talent', and I doubt you define it that way either; but if you want to define talent to mean body shape, I will happily concede that talent is important.
      - dragonwriter 10y ago
        > "Body shape" isn't what people usually mean by 'talent' "Talent" is usually a catch-all for innate features distinct from trained features. ("Body shape" has both innate and trained elements.)
      - Eutow 10y ago
        Merriam Webster defines talent as a special ability that allows someone to do something well. I agree with that definition. Usain Bolt is a naturally talented runner. You said >The major difficulty with the idea of "natural talent" is that every time someone points to a skill/whatever and says, "this is natural talent" someone else finds a way to teach that skill. Can anyone be trained to run as fast as Bolt or would they have to be naturally talented in the first place to be trainable?

LanceH 10y ago

I've phrased this as, "Regardless of the increased salary in the NFL over the last 40 years, they're still only producing one super bowl winner every year. On a per team basis, production has actually gone down."

rhizome 10y ago

Yours is a perspective that effectively renders the term "talent" meaningless.

ktRolster 10y ago
That's kind of the consensus modern psychology and trainers are coming to. Some kids just have a drive that others don't, and that is what determines how well they do. The major difficulty with the idea of "natural talent" is that every time someone points to a skill/whatever and says, "this is natural talent" someone else finds a way to teach that skill. Here is one paper: http://talentdevelop.com/articles/ITROM.html http://talentdevelop.com/articles/ITROM.html
- Eutow 10y ago
  So if you trained hard enough you could run the 100m as fast as Bolt?
  - ktRolster 10y ago
    "Body shape" isn't what people usually mean by 'talent', and I doubt you define it that way either; but if you want to define talent to mean body shape, I will happily concede that talent is important.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      > "Body shape" isn't what people usually mean by 'talent' "Talent" is usually a catch-all for innate features distinct from trained features. ("Body shape" has both innate and trained elements.)
    - Eutow 10y ago
      Merriam Webster defines talent as a special ability that allows someone to do something well. I agree with that definition. Usain Bolt is a naturally talented runner. You said >The major difficulty with the idea of "natural talent" is that every time someone points to a skill/whatever and says, "this is natural talent" someone else finds a way to teach that skill. Can anyone be trained to run as fast as Bolt or would they have to be naturally talented in the first place to be trainable?