Interesting...you equate 'talent' to the same way I feel about 'luck' which is, in my opinion, a cover-up for the absence of either the correct answer or the correct question. However, I don't consider 'talent' as some foggy dark term used to describe away a lack of skill. I think 'talent' is a description of certain traits / strengths that people are wired for. I used to teach music and can certainly say, with no doubt, that there are certain people that have talent for playing a musical instrument. I've had students that have all the motivation, heart, and enthusiasm but lack the talent to play an instrument well even though they try for years. Conversly, I've had students with very little motivation and enthusiasm learn to play exceptionally well with the tiniest of effort. This is talent. I agree that a sailboat, car, bicycle, etc. are just mechanical contraptions that are limited to very specific behaviors and calculations - but to drive something hard and extract full potential from one of these requires a great deal of human interpretation and anticipation through sensational feedback. This is extremely similar to the talent required for creating great music through a calculatable mechanical musical contraption like a saxaphone or piano. Afterall, even though we can quantify what John Coltrane has done with a tenor saxaphone by writing it on paper, it doesn't mean any given person can learn to recreate it. On the other hand, you may have the talent to pull it off if you learn the skills required.

From Scoob


Right, but how did she manage three incredibly precise laps within split seconds of each other when the competition, many of which have more experience and training racing cars, had the same training opportunities for the track and the car? Are you saying that you think that any given person can give the identical performance with the same amount of training?