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To be honest, people wouldn't pursue or even try swimming if they weren't predisposed to. You implicitly know if you can progress to a certain level when you st

by zobzu 14y ago

To be honest, people wouldn't pursue or even try swimming if they weren't predisposed to. You implicitly know if you can progress to a certain level when you start. YES some people have the capability and DO NOT try. Maybe the message works for them. But for the VAST majority that's not the case. Following that logic we'd (almost) all be champions by now. But then you go with "you may find the goal is out of reach". That's the freaking point of the article. Can't have it both ways.

dinkumthinkum 14y ago
This sounds like special pleading. I'm not sure by what "spidey sense" people implicitly know this.
dredmorbius 14y ago
I I also know a lot of pretty slow swimmers who nonetheless manage to do some pretty impressive feats. With training, there's a response. You'll get faster, improve your endurance, power, strength, skill, whatever. This applies to programming, project management, swimming, gymnastics, painting, or chess. Some people have the innate ability to go further. Some don't. All human ability falls along a spectrum, and most of us for any given activity are somewhere in the middle. Depending on the activity, the curve may be longer or shorter (you'll reach your ability after more or less training). Early adaptation is frequently fast, progress tapers off with time. As I said above: with appropriate training, you'll be better than if you hadn't trained. How much better really depends. In most cases, though, you'll learn fairly quickly -- perhaps a few days, perhaps a few years -- how much talent you have. Developing that talent is then a matter of developing the skill. In some cases, skill/ability development can occur over many years, even decades. Pablo Morales and Dara Torres have shown that Olympic class swimmers can compete in their 30s and 40s, strength athletes may have similar careers. Some skill activities (conjuring, dance) even longer. Other skills peak early (few gymnasts compete past their teen years). My point about the article was that there was a hell of a lot of defeatism and lack of rigor to arguments provided, on a topic that's blatantly obvious to start with. I'll still bet most people could, if they tried, pursue a given goal further than a casual assessment would suggest. So: no, "anything is possible" doesn't apply, but "some things are possible" does, and

by zobzu 14y ago

dinkumthinkum 14y ago

This sounds like special pleading. I'm not sure by what "spidey sense" people implicitly know this.

dredmorbius 14y ago

I I also know a lot of pretty slow swimmers who nonetheless manage to do some pretty impressive feats. With training, there's a response. You'll get faster, improve your endurance, power, strength, skill, whatever. This applies to programming, project management, swimming, gymnastics, painting, or chess. Some people have the innate ability to go further. Some don't. All human ability falls along a spectrum, and most of us for any given activity are somewhere in the middle. Depending on the activity, the curve may be longer or shorter (you'll reach your ability after more or less training). Early adaptation is frequently fast, progress tapers off with time. As I said above: with appropriate training, you'll be better than if you hadn't trained. How much better really depends. In most cases, though, you'll learn fairly quickly -- perhaps a few days, perhaps a few years -- how much talent you have. Developing that talent is then a matter of developing the skill. In some cases, skill/ability development can occur over many years, even decades. Pablo Morales and Dara Torres have shown that Olympic class swimmers can compete in their 30s and 40s, strength athletes may have similar careers. Some skill activities (conjuring, dance) even longer. Other skills peak early (few gymnasts compete past their teen years). My point about the article was that there was a hell of a lot of defeatism and lack of rigor to arguments provided, on a topic that's blatantly obvious to start with. I'll still bet most people could, if they tried, pursue a given goal further than a casual assessment would suggest. So: no, "anything is possible" doesn't apply, but "some things are possible" does, and