Are people born with "gifts"

koHd

This post might be a little disjointed. I'm fairly sleepy and using my mobile to post,

But it was one of those late night thoughts that come into your head and don't let you sleep.

Is anyone born with intelligence? Talent for anything in particular?

Or is everything a person becomes simply down to hard work and determination?

A prime example may be Tiger Woods. He was a golf prodigy from a very young age. I'd argue that he just practiced more than all the other golf prodigys and that's why he became so much better than even other prodigys. But then there is facts that some other kids might have practised even more than he did' and still came nowhere near his talent.

Are you born with drive and determination? Or do we learn this? Why was Roy Keane seemingly so much more driven than even the most driven players?

Are we born with intelligence? Is our ability to learn simply down to genes? Or is the ability to learn, also something you must learn?

If we took the healthy child of two very intelligent people and had him raised by weak minded idiots with no drive to learn or better themselves, would this childs intelligence still shine through? If yes, how?

I know there are a lot of external influences on us besides parenting that shape our minds, bodies and personalities. ie. Books' television, Video games, board games etc. But if we stripped all external sources away could this child still develop the drive to reach the potential of their intelligence?

And on the flip side, take a child from badly driven and low intelligence parents and put them with all the right influences to develop their ability and drive to learn, could this person be "taught to be a genius"?

again, sorry for this being all over the place, really should be sleeping! Heh

ChocolateSauce

Of course we are. All men are not born equal; at birth some are smarter than others, some have superior genetics (with regard to immune responses, their susceptibility to cancer, alzheimer's, etc), some even have extraordinary gifts which can never be learned, like the ability to do complex mathematics in their heads or a prodigal talent for music, and so on.

Conversely, some are born being particularly bad maths, some are immune to diseases for unknown reasons and some even have intellectual disabilities.

lin lin

i think the human mind limits itself in many respects. it's relative of course but it comes closer to what Henry Ford said: "if you think you can or if you think you can't, either way you're right" or something like that

philologos

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Of course we are. All men are not born equal; at birth some are smarter than others, some have superior genetics (with regard to immune responses, their susceptibility to cancer, alzheimer's, etc), some even have extraordinary gifts which can never be learned, like the ability to do complex mathematics in their heads or a prodigal talent for music, and so on.

Conversely, some are born being particularly bad maths, some are immune to diseases for unknown reasons and some even have intellectual disabilities.

A great post. I agree with you totally

People are built and shaped in different ways. Some have been gifted with intelligence, others have been gifted with being stronger physically. I think all people have these gifts and that they are a huge factor as to why we differ so much from eachother.

ChocolateSauce

Why, I myself have been born with a remarkable penchant for being stubborn!:pac: