"People who boast about their IQ are losers" -Stephen Hawking

[tevarin]

Really cool article by NewScientist on how cognitive scientists are arguing that extraordinary achievement is not strongly linked to general IQ or other measures of innate aptitude, but instead depends on specific talents nurtured through lots of training and huge amounts of practice and hard work

Comments

[thisgirliknow]

What about people who act superior to those who can't spell.

[tevarin]

Kind of silly, I think. On the one hand, a certain minimum level of spelling prowess is useful. If you write something, you wnat peeple to at lees undrstan whut your riting. And if you're doing keyword searches, your spelling has to match the spelling you're looking for

[thisgirliknow]

So what if you have access to a computer and spellcheck, and yet you insist on spelling it, "definatly"

[tevarin]

It's an odd bad habit, but why let it bother you? I mean, it's readable, you know they mean "definitely". In a work memo or a newspaper article, I'd say it would look glaringly unprofessional, but in friendly conversation, it seems harmless enough.

[have_inner_lady]

Wonderful!

[metahoss]

I think the important implications of these studies (and other related ones not mentioned in this article) go in the other direction, i.e. almost anyone can become quite proficient (if perhaps not reaching the elite level) at most any pursuit, simply by working hard. And finding a good coach helps. I think this contradicts, in a sense, what many of us, like the author, are implicitly taught growing up.