4 ms·
This is a hilarious remark: We are not like basketball players or musicians or chess masters where only the extremely gifted (who also work hard) can rise to t
by mquander 15y ago
This is a hilarious remark:
We are not like basketball players or musicians or chess masters where only the extremely gifted (who also work hard) can rise to the top of their craft. With few exceptions, we all can.
I have no idea why, in the same breath as you disclaim the necessity of inborn talent for computer programming, you reaffirm that necessity for some arbitrary skills that you plucked out of nowhere. You have exactly the same amount of evidence supporting your claim that anyone can become a great programmer that I do to support the claim that anyone can be a chess master.
- jackowayed 15y agoAbsolutely. The first half of the blog post reminded me of this piece by Derek Sivers: http://sivers.org/15-years http://sivers.org/15-years
- dionidium 15y agoOK, but the reference to athletics is valid. There are outliers -- Muggsy Bogues or Dustin Pedroia -- but there's a reason that most professional pitchers are 6'2''. You can't get taller, no matter how hard you try.
- notyourwork 15y agoAlso a reason why pro baseball players are usually born in January.
- ido 15y agoWhy?
- notyourwork 15y agoIt is from Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. In this book he suggests that this happens because at a young age these kids born in January have an age advantage over their peers. During adolescence physical development can be a substantial advantage and one born in January compared to another born in August will be physically different in terms of development. Therefore, they are better from the start due to physical advantage. This results in more coaching and more attention, therefore they are encouraged to progress further in baseball. Very good book for those not familiar. http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html