There is some solace to be found in the fact that our world does not perfectly adhere to the ideals of a real meritocracy. While living in such a world may cont

There is some solace to be found in the fact that our world does not perfectly adhere to the ideals of a real meritocracy. While living in such a world may contribute to unfairness, it also enables you to be in a better position in life than someone who is more naturally gifted. In fact, one might suspect that you're more likely to find moderately gifted individuals at the top levels of success than very talented ones. From the micro point of view, a talented individual has a greater a priori probability of reaching a high level of success than a moderately gifted one. However, from the macro point of view of the entire society, the probability of finding moderately gifted individuals at the top levels of success is greater than that of finding there very talented ones, because moderately gifted people are much more numerous and, with the help of luck, have globally a statistical advantage to reach a great success, in spite of their lower individual a priori probability.