Ordinary vs. Extraordinary

I don’t believe in the idea that there are a few peculiar people capable of understanding math, and the rest of the world is normal. Richard Feynman at an interview with Omni magazine

I’ve always believed in the theory of “there is no such thing as can’t.” Each time someone claimed I couldn’t do something, I’d work incessantly and accomplish it, just to prove them wrong. I never liked the idea of others claiming they could judge the range of my capacity.

Any human’s capacity.

I’ve often wondered if there is such a thing as human capacity. Are we all born with a set of abilities or do all babies come to the world with the same set of competences and somehow, some people learn to tap into this well of knowledge better than others?

I guess like most nature vs. nurture questions, the answer lies somewhere in between. It’s highly likely, to me, that there is some kind of genetic wiring that allows for one baby to be more artistically inclined than the other. It’s also plausible, even probable, that two babies with equal capacity in this area might not grow up to have the equal artistic ability in practice. One baby might have parents who recognize this inherent talent early on and they may hire the best tutors for the child early on, expanding and honing this skill while the other kid’s parents are oblivious. Therefore, in my mind, it makes perfect sense to say that both nature and nurture have an effect in the resulting genius.

The fascinating question, however, is whether such a genius can be the result of mostly nurture. What if I don’t have these special genes that make me an amazing artist? (Let’s call these the Leonardo genes.) Can I still be a master painter without the Leonardo genes? What if I worked with people who had these genes and I practiced night and day? Are you saying that even if I made it my sole purpose in life, I couldn’t become a Leonardo without his genes?

What a depressing thought.

I often suffer from lack of perspective. When I see something amazing, I get overcome with despair that I am incapable of producing such a thing. I’m not talking about achieving an outcome at the level of a Leonardo or a Nobel Prize winning physicist. Some amazing drawing someone my age did. Some program a fellow teammate wrote. Some idea a teenager had that’s truly unique and clever. I see all these as achievements within my reach and I feel depressed that I am incapable of producing such outcomes. I don’t mean to say that I feel animosity or jealousy towards the originator of it. On the contrary, I have huge respect and admiration towards them. I just feel bad that I couldn’t be such a person, too.

Therefore the idea that genius cannot be learned is upsetting to me and I refuse to believe it. If I can’t hope that by hard work and determination, I can reach just about any goal, I might as well lose hope.

And I don’t ever want to lose hope.

Previously? Taboos.