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Gladwell's 10,000 hours yarn is bullshit. There is talent, and Bolt's got so much of it that he's been regularly demolishing more experienced, harder working op
by philk 17y ago
Gladwell's 10,000 hours yarn is bullshit. There is talent, and Bolt's got so much of it that he's been regularly demolishing more experienced, harder working opponents for his entire career.
Good post. However, I think this needs to be clarified; running really fast is something that has a strong genetic component and a weak skill component. The idea that greatness is mostly the result of focused practice is more likely to hold true in fields with a strong skill component (for example learning to play the violin or writing code).
- pavs 17y agoSo I guess there is still hope that I can be the greatest programmer in the world and don't have to rely on my genes. Awesome :)
- xiaoma 17y agoMusical talent may not have been the best example to choose to make Gladwell's point. Not only is genetics demonstrably important for musicians, but we even know that the strongly influencing genes come from a certain segment of chromosome 4. http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/musical-talent-genes-16460.html http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/musical-talent-genes-16460.ht... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/musical-talent-proves-to-be-air-on-a-gene-string-695379.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/musical-talent-pro... http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/080429_music-genes.htm http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/080429_music-genes.h...