"I'd say that hard work and natural talent is 80:20."
That was said in response to my question about talent. And I told him 80:20 I'd give it to him. I wanted to say talent is purely derived from hard work but I decided that's a little too extreme a statement to make.
Which then struck me: What is learning? When I was reading Plato's dialogues, there was this interesting philosophy that knowledge is eternal and ever-present. Whatever we think we have 'learnt', we have already knew them from the longest of time. It was said that the soul is eternal and knowledge is already known, all that is to be done is to refresh the memory. I put 'learn' in inverted commas because I think it's an abstract notion.
Think about how one 'learns' something. A book can tell you the theory. Your teacher could teach you the steps. Yet the "easiest" way of learning is when you already "knew" the answer. Imagine the times, say, when you solve a mathematical problem. You have no clue what the book or the teacher is saying. Nevertheless you went to try it yourself via brute force. Incidentally you arrived at the answer the exact same way as your book's method. Delighted, you mentally took note that you got this problem right and you have now "learnt" how to solve the problem. Yet, where did the "learning" occur? The book did not help. Your teacher could enlighten you. The answer was already in your head, somehow. Is this true learning? One cannot discount that this is still knowledge acquired, if that is how learning is going to be defined. Is this what people call natural talent? If a person could, via brute force, somehow "know" how to do it without actually understanding anything from any external source time and again, one could say such people are gifted because naturally they can learn without much guidance.
Consider another type of learning. I call this grinding. Similar to the above, you have no idea what is going on. You tried to do it via brute force. Unfortunately, you aren't as lucky as the group of people described earlier. They knew the answer; you don't. Instead of giving up, they tried again and again, trying to "learn" what was being taught to them. They could emulate it perfectly after putting in hours after hours of repetitive practise no less. Or they could slowly discover the answer after they prod it from all sorts of different angles. The start is the same. The end point is identical but the process is very different. Such people are what I call a genius of hard work. Personally, I think this is the true learning. Learning should be defined by the process. The second group, albeit slower, they actually "learn" more as they go on a journey of discovering the answer in comparison to the first group who just got it.
Jordan once said the best players take what the defence gives them. One might not get it instantly but the process of learning is the truly priceless one. There is a limit to how much one could get. If you believe Plato's philosophy, then there is no limit to how much knowledge you could get by refreshing your memory when you keep trying and trying.
Talent versus hardwork?
ReplyDeleteI do not share the same views with Plato on eternal knowledge. It seems like knowledge has been imprinted in our minds and our DNA. How is that possible when new facts and knowledge has been generated everyday? With new technology advancements and current inventions,how is possible that we already knew that is going to happen? Rather, I believe that humans are unique in the sense that we have this wonderfully-made brain and nervous system which provides us with an immense learning capacity.Rather, I believe that humans are given the tools to knowledge.The tools to knowledge is eternal .The workings of learning is embedded in our souls.We have the capability to learn and the freedom to decide what we want to learn.We are equipped with 5 sensory organs which helped us to explore and discover this world.
Natural talent? In my opinion,talent involves the genes ,environment and chance. It depends on how the formation of brain system and neuron. As for the example you have illustrated above, some people have a talent in solving mathematic questions. They are either fast learners or they are born with enhance neural connections.SBecause the learning capability depends on how our brain is form during childhood.And the formation of our brain depends chance? It is something unpredictable.
Those that are born with the talent to solve maths questions probably do not need to execute with brute force.They probably require the slightest effort to achieve something.But, there is always a "limit" to their talents.I do,supposedly, think that there is anyone who is talented in all espects in life.A talented sportmen like Jordan also probably have his weakness in some ares of sports. That is where hard work comes in. This is regardless of how talented you are.Hardwork is definitely a must especially if you are competing to suceed in this human race.
Finally, I'd say that hardwork and talent is 100:0. And this ratio would change as in life. Sportmen spend several years to train and even talented musicians have to sit down for hours to compose and write music.All their hardwork will,subsequently translate into the talent they now possess.I think humans started off with 0% of talent. It is only as we grow,learn and experience the world, we begin to discover or stumble across our talent or to enhance them.If they want to move on from there, they need to invest their time and effort.Some do not need hardwork but they sure need do to some sort of work and put in some amount of effort to solve a amthematical problem sum before they know they share the same talent with Pythagoras
woah, 100:0 is a bit extreme haha. You know it's really hard to argue an absolute stand, that was why I decided it's fair to justify that genes play at least a small role. I agree with the part that the environment plays in nurturing a person but there must be at least something for the surroundings to work it's "magic".
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