does natural talent exsist?

[Tomo Stryker]

I would say that it is less "natural" talent and more of something you take interest in and hone skills in. I mean I'm pretty decent at FPS Console games (at least I think) and I'm pretty sure that there isn't a natural skill for using two joysticks to shoot someone with.

 

[A.I. Sigma]

so do you think natural talent exsists?

No, it's a fallacy made up by lazy people to handwave why others achieve when they don't.

'Talent' is nothing more than a combination of interest and hard work. It doesn't matter how smart someone is, if they aren't truly interested in something they'll struggle once it get's difficult. The 'talented' ones are usually the ones who just butt up against the difficult problems until they find a solution.

Or put it another way, I'm a painter, supposedly a talented one. Is that because I have some supernatural God gven gift? Or because I've practiced everyday for over twenty years? There's your talent.

So what about child prodigies? They haven't had twenty years to become good at something.

 

[Custard_Angel]

Natural talent exists but it often stifles in my experiences. I've seen people with a flair for music/sports/science/writing/whatever that take to their talents like a duck to water, and just sit on the talent. Succeeding with little effort, but not really excelling.

Eventually someone with not as much talent, but genuine interest and passion comes along and exceeds the talented individual leading to a "fuck it, I'll go to business school" attitude (no shit, I know of at least 4 people who did this exact thing).

Natural talent only really shines if there's also passion behind it.

 

[Communist partisan]

ive been thinking alot about this and here goes

im in this situation in where my mom says that i have natural talent in guitar, a hobby i hate (been playing for 3 years) that shes been pushing onto me. im thinking its not natural talent with musical timing. its from years of gaming and playing rock band

how ever her unbreakable influence(also which i fucking hate) over me has me convninced that natural talent exsists (serioulsy she can convince me of anything and i hate it with all my being)

so do you think natural talent exsists?

Natural talents exist, if they didn't some people couldn't just be good (or really)on some things they never or rarely trained or done in life.

 

[StBishop]

Yes. Of course, some people are simply better at things then others. I'm okay at maths, but I really have to work at it, yet I know people it just comes easy to. I'm almost tone deft, can't play anything, yet my brother can pick up an instrument and being playing inside a few weeks.

However I've been told I'm very skilled at trouble shooting, I know how to boil a complex problem down by process of elimination, yet it marvels me when other people can't work that out, I can get use to almost any device very quickly very trial and error, yet watch in awe as someone tries for hours to work a remote control.

So yeah, natural talent is a real thing. Still doesn't mean you have to use it. Tell your mum to piss off and leave you alone.

i know but i want to be good at things i have no natural talent in. i want to pick any damm thing i want up and be good at it through pure determination. i dont want fate to determine what i am skilled at. i want to be pro good at comedy but it doesnt work for me but with practaice and mentoring i would be good at it.

It seems you dont like the Idea of what you can and cant do being pre determined at birth, this is completley understandable

How ever "Natural talent" only really means being able to pick up the basics really easyly, 95% of the time you still have to work at it to some degree (of coarse there are those freaky geniuses out there, but most of us arnt geniouses)

so yeah you just got to stick and somthing and practice

Ive been told I have a natural talent for art, but trust me Im NO WHERE NEAR a really good level because I still have to work at it (to be fair as soon as highschool came around I pretty much stoped drawing and I never pushed myself before that so Im making good progress)

The plural form of genius is genii.

Yes, natural talent exists, and usually if you're born with talent you are able to be better than others at whatever skill in which you are talented. For example, genetics affect Usain Bolt's sprinting ability, he obviously worked fucking hard, but other people may work harder and never be as fast.
Musical ability is directly related to a portion of the brain, (I don't remember which part) and heredity affects how well it is developed, however it is possible to train musical ability just as it is possible to train mathematical ability or literary ability. Some people pick up languages easily, that doesn't mean others can't do so as well, or that those people actually know many languages, but they have the ability to do so with greater aptitude, ease, and success than others.

I'd like to clarify that obviously some of the best people in various fields do not have natural talent in their skills, but through a lot of hard work they've reached above and beyond the lazy people with talent.

What it all boils down to is this; Yeah, you're probably better at guitar (and other musical tasks) than others, but that doesn't mean you have to do anything with that talent. Do what you want but accept that it may be harder to do something in which you don't have natural talent. Relish the challenge because working for something makes it much sweeter than simply cruising to it.

 

[Denmarkian]

There are two points I want to make:

1) It's interesting to see so many people conflating talent with skill.

So you've been painting for 20 years; you have developed 20 years of painting skills. You cannot develop talent.


2) Talent, as I see it, is merely an adjustment of the entry point in developing a skill. If you are talented at something, you can pick it up faster, i.e. develop skills in that activity faster than someone who does not have the same talent.

For example, I have a talent for algebraic organization.
I'm really good at modifying algebra equations in my head.

This does not mean that I am also innately skillful at Integral Calculus, or Trigonometry, or Non-Euclidean mathematics; I've still had to work hard to get good at those maths. What it does mean, however, is that I had a "leg-up" on my classmates in primary and middle school when we were working on arithmetic and simple algebra, and it has helped in learning the higher maths.



Now, to respond to the OP:

Yes, I do believe natural talent exists.

For your own sake, I will say that I believe parents are not 100% accurate in identifying "natural talent" in their children. If you do feel that what your mother is identifying as natural talent, is a proficiency for following rhythm that you've developed playing Rock Band, etc., is there another instrument you'd be interested in learning?

 

[campofapproval]

some people have more of a knack for things than others; we don't all start off equal in every way, for better or worse. that said, i hate whenever people say "oh that guitarist is talented" or the like because that's beside the point; the guy spent zillions of hours practicing to get to that level. one's ability in whatever has way more to do with practice than with inborn talent.

 

[radioactive lemur]

Of course natural talent exists, musicians born with perfect pitch, basketball players who are 7' tall etc. However, you can still get awesome at stuff you don't have talent for if you put your heart into it.

Case in point: If this guy still manages to be awesome at what he does, what's your excuse not to be awesome at what you do?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Maynard

 

[Jeffrey Roel]

It absolutely exists, 100%.

Michael Jackson and pop music, Mozart with music (if Amadeus is to be believed, anyway), Pele and Ronaldo with football, Bill Hicks at being funny, even XCalizors or pro gamers at gaming.

Many of us can work for years and probably never get to the level that just comes naturally to them.

Michael Jackson was being coached froma very young age by his father, who had his entire family singing across the country. Mozart began writing music when he was four. Pele and Ronaldo spent any and all of their free time playing soccer in the streets. I could go on... the point is, and here psychologists and sociologists alike tend to agree, it's training and rigour that trumps natural talent. You might have a natural ability to begin something, but to be truly great, it's estimated that you have to invest 10,000 hours in it. Think of the Great One, Wayne Gretzky. Before he ever played hockey he was figure skating winter after winter with his father.

 

[Zakarath]

Natural talent does exist, though it likely is a combination of innate abilities as opposed to some specific proclivity; for example, I'd say I have a natural talent at skiing (the first time I hit the slopes my instructor was asking me if I was sure I'd never done it before), but I'd attribute that to my above-average agility and balance as opposed to any specific talent for skiing.

(Captcha: burn Estate
It shall be done.)

 

[ScoopMeister]

Of course. That's why some people are great at it straight away, yet others still suck even after years of practice. Writing is an excellent example.

 

[spartan231490]

ive been thinking alot about this and here goes

im in this situation in where my mom says that i have natural talent in guitar, a hobby i hate (been playing for 3 years) that shes been pushing onto me. im thinking its not natural talent with musical timing. its from years of gaming and playing rock band

how ever her unbreakable influence(also which i fucking hate) over me has me convninced that natural talent exsists (serioulsy she can convince me of anything and i hate it with all my being)

so do you think natural talent exsists?

There is certainly natural talent. Everybody is better at some things than others, but that doesn't mean you have to do every specific thing that you are naturally talented in. Most people are naturally talented in several different areas, and hobbies are about enjoyment and stress relief, not natural talent.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Absolutely without question, natural talent exists. But that doesn't mean you're obligated to pursue something that doesn't interest you simply because you're good at it.

 

[the lapalminator]

so do you think natural talent exsists?

No, it's a fallacy made up by lazy people to handwave why others achieve when they don't.

'Talent' is nothing more than a combination of interest and hard work. It doesn't matter how smart someone is, if they aren't truly interested in something they'll struggle once it get's difficult. The 'talented' ones are usually the ones who just butt up against the difficult problems until they find a solution.

Or put it another way, I'm a painter, supposedly a talented one. Is that because I have some supernatural God gven gift? Or because I've practiced everyday for over twenty years? There's your talent.

goddamm you know what the fuck im talking about.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So what about child prodigies? They haven't had twenty years to become good at something.

Michael Schumacher, his parents own a go-karting business, he could drive one before he could walk (no really).

Michael Jackson, made to practice every day by his father.

Williams sisters, again, made to practice every day by parents.

Per Enflo (the mathematician), once again, parents made him learn it.

Do a little digging into 'child prodigies', you generally find a pushy parent.

Now, to torpedo my own argument.

You could argue that savants are talented, they are able to do things but unlike most 'talented' people, their abilities are not only automatic but also largely beyond their control, as opposed to learned through massive repition.
If you take talent as a 'God given ability,' then that's talent, for better or worse.

 

[Spacewolf]

with music i would say yes but to a lesser extent than sports where you are born with an absolute limit to your abilitys where no ammount of traning after that will make you improve

 

[Condor219]

There are two points I want to make:

1) It's interesting to see so many people conflating talent with skill.

So you've been painting for 20 years; you have developed 20 years of painting skills. You cannot develop talent.


2) Talent, as I see it, is merely an adjustment of the entry point in developing a skill. If you are talented at something, you can pick it up faster, i.e. develop skills in that activity faster than someone who does not have the same talent.

+1. Think of it sort of like an experience point modifier. Now, a person who's bad at something naturally might earn 80% experience for every practice session that they put in. But after a huge amount of work, eventually they're going to level up to a point where we see them as good. But a person with a 200% exp. modifier (or in some cases with prodigies, 400-500% modifier) is going to level up so much faster, and if they put the same amount of work in, they're going to ridiculously outlevel the 80% exp. modifier person.

 

[AgentNein]

It does, as I am a recipient of some of it. Allow me to enter geek mode for a second, I was born with a +2 or +3 to my creating-images-on-paper and natural-rhythm stats. Those things came naturally to me.

Only so far a natural talent will take you though if it's not cultivated. You can't discount learned skills. I've seen people without any inherent talent dedicate all of their brains to an art of some sort and get really fucking good through sheer will, surpassing some of us with natural talents who might have been more lazy about it.

EDIT: ...and of course I'm more or less ninja'd on all my points by the duder above me. Kudos duder.

 

[DanDeFool]

ive been thinking alot about this and here goes

im in this situation in where my mom says that i have natural talent in guitar, a hobby i hate (been playing for 3 years) that shes been pushing onto me. im thinking its not natural talent with musical timing. its from years of gaming and playing rock band

how ever her unbreakable influence(also which i fucking hate) over me has me convninced that natural talent exsists (serioulsy she can convince me of anything and i hate it with all my being)

so do you think natural talent exsists?

What's one of those things you always hear about people who are better at something than everyone else?

"(S)He started playing golf/the guitar/etc. unning when (s)he was 5 years old (give or take a year or two)."

Michael Jordan once said: "Everyone has talent, but ability takes hard work."

My personal view of talent is that what most people mistake for some kind of innate genetic predisposition to be good at something is actually a specific person happening to have found something they enjoy doing at an early age and practicing it constantly until they're really, really good (because they enjoy doing it anyway).

For more information on this, you should read Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers".