Talent is innate

Greetings Larztheloser and all other readers, Pro has brought up a very good point about genetics, but I believe he has missed the mark with his argument. I will analyze his arguments more closely after I give my own. Talent is often associated with as many meanings as can be derived from its definition of "aptitude or skill." I think we need to look at this closer to find what we really mean by talent and who has talent. It is a certain skill that is displayed from a certain person that not everyone has. I could say I have talent at blinking my eyes because I'm good at it. The problem is, everyone else is good at blinking as well. If I could blink twenty times a second, that would really qualify as talent, though a bizarre one. When looking at many of the geniuses or experts of mankind, what we have to figure out is if they are really any different than anyone else at birth. Certainly they have a certain look and certain traits to them, but there is no evidence that their success is due to genetics. Instead, the difference in their future abilities are derived from the environment they are brought up in. A great example was Mozart. He showed an interest for music at a very young age, and this may lead one to believe that this was genetic. But his talent really developed when his father recognized his interest and put him to work. It was the teaching and intense practices from his father that turned him into a prodigy; there's nothing to show he was a prodigy from the beginning. Many children are interested in music and can even grasp musical concepts at a young age, but without anything else, they won't ever be good at music. Other children may show no signs of musical ability at all and become great musicians. Like I said, the environment is a huge factor in talent. Mozart had a father who put all his efforts into his son's musical career. Athletes are often in the same situation as Mozart. When first interested in a certain sport, their parents make sure they have opportunities to succeed. Or take the example of the Polgï¿½r experiment where Lï¿½szlï¿½ Polgï¿½r decided to train his three daughters to become master chess players under the theory that "Geniuses are made, not born." Oddly enough, Judit, the "slow-starter" became the most successful of the three. Another factor contributing to talent could be finer details of growing up. What toys did they play with, what sort of events were going on around them, how did people act when they were them… This could be the spark of a certain interest or talent in a specific subject at a young age. The last and most important aspect to talent is practice. If you look at any talented person, at least successful ones, you will find that they have had much practice. My argument basically comes down to the fact that no evidence shows that anyone has any genetic advantage over another when it comes down to skill. Practice and environment are the main contributors to skill. My opponent argued that genetics could influence ability. Talent, however, is not simply ability as I have already expressed. Usain Bolt has an unusual amount of fast-twitch fibers, partially due to genetics. This doesn't make him skilled anymore than it makes a tall person skilled at basketball. There are plenty of tall people who are absolutely rubbish at basketball, and then there are people who are less than six foot who are tremendously talented. Usain's brother, for example, doesn't have all those fast-twitch fibers, but he probably could if he trained like Usain does. There are people who have genetic diseases that hurt their endurance in athletic abilities, but they still might be skilled at their sport. At best, a black person winning the 100m is an exception, but I think it is more of a misrepresentation of what talent actually is. This interpretation of talent excludes any skill. Interestingly a study showed that genetics had very limited effect on a sprinter's ability*. One of the professor's students was theoretically a better built sprinter than some of those who were experimented on. The skill comes when many Jamaicans are obsessed with running, so naturally they will produce talents. I'll hand it back over to Pro. *http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com...