Podbit · Modern Wisdom
Ben Askren flatly denies that talent exists. His argument: you can't test talent at birth because every child arrives with different environmental inputs, and the Polgár sisters — three of the five highest-rated chess players of all time — were engineered from before conception by a father who wanted to prove exactly this point.
Where this was said
At 44:10 · chapter starts 41:43
The conversation pivots to one of Ben's most strongly held and frequently argued positions: talent doesn't exist. His framework is simple — to test talent, you would need to test it at birth, before any environmental variable has been introduced. The moment you allow two 7-year-olds to live different lives for their first seven years, you have already created radically different athletes, regardless of genes. [1] — Ben Askren "Ben Askren flatly denies that talent exists. His argument: you can't test talent at birth because every child arrives with different enviro…" 44:10 Chris pushes back thoughtfully, asking whether the desire to train is itself a form of talent — and Ben concedes this, pivoting to the Iditarod sled dog analogy: breeders select for desire, not speed or strength, because desire is the trainable and heritable variable that matters. His knockout argument is László Polgár, who advertised for a wife willing to help him create chess champions before they had children. His three daughters became three of the five highest-rated chess players of all time. Ben's verdict: he called it before he'd even procreated. Environment, expectation, and relentless deliberate practice — not talent — made them who they are.
After 7 years of perfect progression in MMA, a fighter's first year in the UFC might gross only $80,000, netting as little as $27,000 after expenses in California.
László Polgár raised three daughters who became three of the five highest-rated chess players of all time, having predicted this before they were born.
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After the KSI show exposed how hard physical comedy really is, Andrew Santino sincerely proposed doing a semester at clown school in France. Bobby agreed. This is apparently a real plan.
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