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> Also, my impression based on things like twin studies is that rich parents's ability give their kids unfair advantages is much weaker than you think. But that
by FD3SA 13y ago
> Also, my impression based on things like twin studies is that rich parents's ability give their kids unfair advantages is much weaker than you think. But that's a whole other discussion.
We're not saying kids like Spiegel are wholly untalented. They come from excellent genetic stock. But as discussed above, they are nowhere near the true outliers in terms of merit. Think Putnam Fellows, Math Olympiad Champs, etc.
Yet the Spiegelites' success is so far above that of these far more talented folk in the startup scene, that one cannot help but suspect that merit appears to be worth far less than class as a determinant of success.
- jessriedel 13y agoYou're conflating intelligence with money-making ability. Solid intelligence helps for sure, and it's probably even true that, all things being equal, intelligence is monotonically related to money-making ability. But all other things are not equal, and there are other things necessary for money-making. In particular, colleges will look for kids with unusually high ambition, people skills, conscientiousness, leadership, etc. It can make sense to sacrifice the very far tail of the IQ bell curve in order to fish out still-very-smart people who are strong in those other necessary ways. Again, I suggest you look into twin studies if you want to see the evidence that class per se is not particularly important. But I'm not going to discuss that here.