4 ms·

Wouldn't a small, elite training club only take in a relatively small number of athletes that have already shown innate talent? Likewise, top universities will

Wouldn't a small, elite training club only take in a relatively small number of athletes that have already shown innate talent? Likewise, top universities will turn out a large number of top scientists. They've already selected for potential at the point of admission.

carsongross 10y ago
You may as well try to reason a Catholic out of the Virgin Birth, friend. I should know. I'm Catholic.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  Heads up: I think you are downvoted mostly because people fail to see the link (I didn't either). (Yes, another Christian here, although not Catholic. There seems to be a few of us here only it seems we mostly try to stay technical.)
lmm 10y ago
It should be possible to rule that kind of thing. I recall an anecdote about four table-tennis champions who lived on the same street, and their families hadn't moved in years - rather it was simply that an excellent coach lived on that street and offered to teach anyone who was interested.
jacobolus 10y ago
What about the Polgár sisters? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/László_Polgár https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/László_Polgár
- eveningcoffee 10y ago
  It appears, after reading this article, that the sisters actually had a very talented father and therefore possibly very good prerequisites to become what they did. He should have accepted the proposed experiment of raising adoptees the same way he did with his children.
sn9 10y ago
There are other fairly common examples without that sort of filtering of applicants. High school academics and athletics are good places to look. Genetics don't explain how a good coach can turn around a school's athletic program to the point of taking a team to the state championship or how a good teacher can take a population of students with a history of failure and dropping out and turn them into students who score 5's on AP calculus exams.

carsongross 10y ago

You may as well try to reason a Catholic out of the Virgin Birth, friend. I should know. I'm Catholic.

reitanqild 10y ago
Heads up: I think you are downvoted mostly because people fail to see the link (I didn't either). (Yes, another Christian here, although not Catholic. There seems to be a few of us here only it seems we mostly try to stay technical.)

lmm 10y ago

It should be possible to rule that kind of thing. I recall an anecdote about four table-tennis champions who lived on the same street, and their families hadn't moved in years - rather it was simply that an excellent coach lived on that street and offered to teach anyone who was interested.

jacobolus 10y ago

What about the Polgár sisters? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/László_Polgár https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/László_Polgár

eveningcoffee 10y ago
It appears, after reading this article, that the sisters actually had a very talented father and therefore possibly very good prerequisites to become what they did. He should have accepted the proposed experiment of raising adoptees the same way he did with his children.

sn9 10y ago

There are other fairly common examples without that sort of filtering of applicants. High school academics and athletics are good places to look. Genetics don't explain how a good coach can turn around a school's athletic program to the point of taking a team to the state championship or how a good teacher can take a population of students with a history of failure and dropping out and turn them into students who score 5's on AP calculus exams.