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Blogs > nimysa
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nimysa
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States383 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-29 03:40:47
January 29 2009 03:37 GMT
#1
In order to properly excel at a particular field or reach a level beyond just proficiency, do you HAVE to HAVE talent or aptitude at an early age before adulthood in the field itself or something related to it?

Like for example, if you look at all the famous titans of history, you see that Napolean had a talent for organizing soldiers at a young age, Turing was a brilliant kid in his teen years, Einstein was sort of a prodigy etc etc etc

*
JWD
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States12607 Posts
January 29 2009 03:38 GMT
#2
Are you plotting world domination?
✌
IdrA
Profile Blog Joined July 2004
United States11541 Posts
January 29 2009 03:42 GMT
#3
those are hardly examples of 'beyond just proficiency'
given that you arent retarded or crippled you can be beyond proficient in just about anything if you work hard enough at it.

being a once in a century genius is a tad bit different

http://www.splitreason.com/product/1152 release the gracken tshirt now available
Nitrogen
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States5345 Posts
January 29 2009 03:45 GMT
#4
no, just put in effort and be willing to learn more about it
UNFUCK YOURSELF
nimysa
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States383 Posts
January 29 2009 03:46 GMT
#5
Well when you look at people like Bisu, Flash, and Pusan, they seemed to show talent at an early age. Do you know bonjwa's or even players near that level or at the very top that changed the course of BW but didn't fit in that scenario?
Ganfei
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Taiwan1439 Posts
January 29 2009 03:46 GMT
#6
I would say it depends on the field. Some fields are experience based, others are natural talent based, etc. You might have an insane physicist who doesn't know squat about plumbing, or an expert plumber who isn't that smart but just really knows what he is doing. In fields like quantum physics I don't think you can EXCEL without a natural talent for it, but you can certainly study and be proficient.
You are crushing me like a cheese sandwich
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
January 29 2009 03:46 GMT
#7
I don't think so. It's obviously easiest to start young, because after a certain age (I think it's 18? 19?) your capacity to learn just keeps going down.... But that doesn't make it impossible. You just have to be doing something the rest of the competition isn't. Being extremely good and famous at/for something have to do with luck as much as they have to do with talent.

If you want an example of success at a late age: Scott Adams' Dilbert only took off when he was already had a lot of work experience and was getting on the old side. But now you see how much that particular comic strip has exploded, and how refined his skills have gotten. His earliest cartoons did not look as polished as they do today, and he only started drawing them in adulthood. However, he did draw as a child, so maybe this isn't the example that broke the mold But typically the things you're good at you've been interested in your whole life, so I think that's more coincidence.
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
Deleted User 3420
Profile Blog Joined May 2003
24492 Posts
January 29 2009 03:46 GMT
#8
Well think about it... of course you have to have talent in related fields at least. Either that or you did and just didn't realize it.

But is working hard more important than talent? Definitely.
Murlox
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
France1699 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-29 03:50:45
January 29 2009 03:49 GMT
#9
Yeah and add to that the emphasis of history itself... who knows if Napoleon was actually that good ? May be he just sucked ass in the beginning BUT this side got forgotten, or was made forgotten.

Edit : Ok this was slow.
Resistance ain't futile
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
January 29 2009 03:55 GMT
#10
On January 29 2009 12:46 travis wrote:
Well think about it... of course you have to have talent in related fields at least. Either that or you did and just didn't realize it.

But is working hard more important than talent? Definitely.

I think luck is more important than both if you put it that way. Lots of people work hard and never get anywhere because the opportunities aren't there for them. Unless you truly believe in the American Dream or something.
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
theonemephisto
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States409 Posts
January 29 2009 04:21 GMT
#11
On January 29 2009 12:37 nimysa wrote:
In order to properly excel at a particular field or reach a level beyond just proficiency, do you HAVE to HAVE talent or aptitude at an early age before adulthood in the field itself or something related to it?

Like for example, if you look at all the famous titans of history, you see that Napolean had a talent for organizing soldiers at a young age, Turing was a brilliant kid in his teen years, Einstein was sort of a prodigy etc etc etc

I think your definition of "properly excelling" at something might be a little skewed.

Yes, it you want to be an absolutely amazing, once-in-a-lifetime genius at something, like all your examples, you probably need some natural talent.

If you want to be just beyond proficiency, being average or slightly below and working hard should easily get you there.
Zozma
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States1626 Posts
January 29 2009 04:35 GMT
#12
On January 29 2009 12:37 nimysa wrote: Einstein was sort of a prodigy etc etc etc
Uh... doesn't everybody always talk about how they thought Einstein was stupid and he did horribly in school up until his later years?
beefhamburger
Profile Joined December 2007
United States3962 Posts
January 29 2009 04:43 GMT
#13
On January 29 2009 13:35 Zozma wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 29 2009 12:37 nimysa wrote: Einstein was sort of a prodigy etc etc etc
Uh... doesn't everybody always talk about how they thought Einstein was stupid and he did horribly in school up until his later years?

He did horribly in school because he didn't care enough about the material (at least the math parts) because he already knew most of it as he was learning material much more complex. It wasn't because he was stupid, it's just he didn't have the motivation to focus on stuff that was too remedial to him.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-29 04:55:31
January 29 2009 04:55 GMT
#14
Genghis Khan was a pretty average during his early life, Colin Powell was a C student, LBJ's first career was teaching in high school, etc.

The answer is no, many if not all successful people go through a crucible at some point in their life.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
geometryb
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
United States1249 Posts
January 29 2009 06:13 GMT
#15
i hope not
SpiritoftheTunA
Profile Blog Joined August 2006
United States20903 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-29 06:43:19
January 29 2009 06:42 GMT
#16
einstein did badly in school cuz he didnt care about homework or tests

his first published paper was also completely false, something about the mechanisms of capillary action that made up new physics that didnt exist

worked as a patent clerk for awhile, wasn't afraid to publish classical mechanics contradicting shit in the form of the photoelectric effect, wasn't afraid to throw away the idea of the luminiferous ether, wasnt afraid to challenge newton on how gravity worked (gravity isn't an instantaenous force), and eventually, after painstaking work (10 years or so), learned the differential geometry to handle his own general relativity (he gained a newfound respect for math after that)

if you study the history of modern physics, you'll see that alot of the most prominent/important figures werent afraid to be bold in publishing new ideas and challenging old ones (de broglie, planck, etc)
posting on liquid sites in current year
AcrossFiveJulys
Profile Blog Joined September 2005
United States3612 Posts
January 29 2009 07:11 GMT
#17
I think passion for what you are doing is the most important decider in your success. If you consider Einstein's achievements, they are remarkable and make him look like a genius, but in reality he was a small fry until several years after he graduated from college. He would daydream about the way things worked and he eventually came up with the idea of relativity, which worked as a model for what he was seeing and imagined but just so happened to be empirically proved correct later on.

If you have passion for something, you'll know because you'll be thinking about it while you are walking outside, driving, in the shower, before you go to sleep, etc. The more you think about something, the more your brain/body will adapt to it and become better at it. Einstein's brain was studied after his death and they found that the region associated with 3D visualization was much larger than the average person... in my eyes this means that it grew as he required such skills for his work.
minus_human
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
4784 Posts
January 29 2009 13:18 GMT
#18

On January 29 2009 12:46 travis wrote:
Well think about it... of course you have to have talent in related fields at least. Either that or you did and just didn't realize it.

But is working hard more important than talent? Definitely.



Couldn't have said it better myself
nimysa
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States383 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-30 02:38:13
January 30 2009 02:37 GMT
#19
On January 29 2009 15:42 SpiritoftheTunA wrote:
einstein did badly in school cuz he didnt care about homework or tests

his first published paper was also completely false, something about the mechanisms of capillary action that made up new physics that didnt exist

worked as a patent clerk for awhile, wasn't afraid to publish classical mechanics contradicting shit in the form of the photoelectric effect, wasn't afraid to throw away the idea of the luminiferous ether, wasnt afraid to challenge newton on how gravity worked (gravity isn't an instantaenous force), and eventually, after painstaking work (10 years or so), learned the differential geometry to handle his own general relativity (he gained a newfound respect for math after that)

if you study the history of modern physics, you'll see that alot of the most prominent/important figures werent afraid to be bold in publishing new ideas and challenging old ones (de broglie, planck, etc)

Now that you mention it, could you mention some books related to that? (About Einstein and scientists sucking, contradicting, and working hard etc).

Secondly I thought Einstein had mastered differential calculus when by the time he was 15? The whole thing about him sucking at school was primarily language related or false when concerning his poor aptitude in math or physics, could you tell me what exactly is right?
fusionsdf
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
Canada15390 Posts
January 30 2009 06:26 GMT
#20
Question
What kind of bear is best?
SKT_Best: "I actually chose Protoss because it was so hard for me to defeat Protoss as a Terran. When I first started Brood War, my main race was Terran."
fusionsdf
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
Canada15390 Posts
January 30 2009 06:27 GMT
#21
On January 29 2009 12:46 nimysa wrote:
Well when you look at people like Bisu, Flash, and Pusan, they seemed to show talent at an early age. Do you know bonjwa's or even players near that level or at the very top that changed the course of BW but didn't fit in that scenario?


stork didnt

be stork
SKT_Best: "I actually chose Protoss because it was so hard for me to defeat Protoss as a Terran. When I first started Brood War, my main race was Terran."
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