Sunday, November 16, 2008

Voting Question: How is this philosophy/view/essay? (Regarding "natural talent")?

Free thinking. There is no such thing as "natural talent" in this world. I mean, I hear people talking about it occasionally. Oh, this person's naturally talented in dancing. Oh, this person's naturally talented in _musical instrument_ Oh, this person's naturally talented in sports. Oh, this person's naturally talented in playing video games. ...Um, WHAT? First off, all of those were invented (including dancing; either by us humans or elsewhere). How can someone be "natural talented" in something invented? I find that the misconception arises from the fact that many people are taught how to do their respective skills at a young age. And when they are in their teenaged years and are great at their skills, people (and possibly themselves) think they were born with the skill. To reword it another way, Nature gave them the talent. (Which I find impossible). "Now wait, how does one dance good, play an instrument good, play sports good, or play video games good if, according to you, they don't have natural talent?" Good question. Well, for one thing, they were constantly exposed to that skill at a young age - what logical conclusion can you deride from that? Babies' are still developing. Because of that, they can learn many things at alarming rates. If a baby has been raised in a family of dancers since a young age, he/she would most likely be highly skilled in dancing when they grow up. As stated earlier, this is because they are still developing, AND because they are constantly exposed to such skills. So let's think about it again. A young child was born in a musical environment. He hears and develops his brain accordingly with strong musical influence. Curious as children are, he wants to learn an instrument he has been constantly hearing (let's say classical guitar). A young child was taught gymnastics at a young age. Although she started learning a skill later than the child of music, her body is still developing and adapting. Due to that, she can still be extremely skillful when she grows up - provided she still does gymnastics. After reading and thinking about those examples, I find it easy to understand the reason why many think there is "natural talent". Heck, even the boy probably thinks he was born with natural guitar talent. But because of the information stated above, we find that that is not the case. To wrap things up: while people are not necessarily born with a skill in the literal sense, saying they are isn't too far from the truth. That is, if they were born surrounded by it, entranced by it, and drawn to it, one can say they were born with it. Regarding people who have never done anything before and were quite good at it: I am one of them. On various examples, I just looked at some videos and used deep analyzing skills to become good at those. People who are good orators... I would assume they practice in front of mirrors or talk to themselves (verbally or mentally). This is from experience. But there most certainly could be a chance there are exceptions. I cannot choose a best answer. I find that this argument is too complex. There are many arguments. And many counter-arguments. And even many counter-counter-arguments. I would say, with every argument, there is always an exception; the universe is unpredictable.

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