You're stunning me here. It's like you're objecting to someone saying gymnasts are coordinated or air traffic controllers can handle a lot of stress. Intelligence is a core qualification for programming, like height for basketball. You can't say "I play basketball, so I'm taller than others", but you can say "We're all basketball players, so we're likely taller than most". We're _selected_ for intelligence.
> Evidence has been mounting for decades that for most non-sport domains and for most people,“natural talent” is not an absolute requirement for reaching high levels of expertise.
> Other than the sports that depend on specific physical prerequisites, few domains have hard genetic limits for expertise.There is a way in which natural ability might contribute to high expertise in non-athletic domains, but it’s not domain-specific “natural” gifts... it’s a natural ability for focused practice.
…
> Even at the very top levels in most non-sport domains, there’s little evidence that “natural talent” is a hard requirement. But where it might exist, it’s most likely to show up at the beginning of the curve and the very very very top.
That may be an inspiring book, but if you're interested in what's actually known about talent, success, and the limits on our ability to measure and predict such things, then you should look elsewhere.
(Ask yourself how well the writer could explain monty hall, or regression to the mean, or what's wrong with p-values, to get an idea whether they can possibly have a handle on the material.)
Evidence has been mounting for decades that for most non-sport domains and for most people,“natural talent” is not an absolute requirement for reaching high levels of expertise.
This is probably true for programming too.
But just because something isn't necessary it doesn't imply there is a correlation.
One Muggsy Bogues proves natural height is not an absolute requirement for playing in the NBA, but does not prove that basketball players are not taller than average.
>It's like you're objecting to someone saying gymnasts are coordinated or air traffic controllers can handle a lot of stress.
It's the causation that's interesting, though: do gymnasts become coordinated through practice, or do the most coordinated people go into gymnastics? I think the OP is arguing the former, and I think I agree. In that case, programming is not unique re: intelligence.
