Actually, our "selection ability" doesn't need to be above average, since the average stock picker is not picking index funds. Index funds are used to proxy the

Actually, our "selection ability" doesn't need to be above average, since the average stock picker is not picking index funds. Index funds are used to proxy the average of the product (market), not the professional investor. Since index funds are the theoretical alternative, that's all we'd need to beat. "The market" is majoritarily made-up of professional investors actively investing. So "The market" is the average result of all those professional investors. So you are saying you have stock selection ability that is above average if you choose to pick individual stocks.