I have had several heated discussions with friends this weekend about whether there is a limit to human potential or not. Basically, my friends argue that, for instance, any 5'10" adult male, who dedicated himself to basketball from the age of 12 on, could play basketball at an NBA level. My position is that for most people, no matter how much they train, no matter how much they dedicate themselves, no matter how intense their desire, they could not compete at an elite level. If I work at it, I could maximize my physical potential, but someone else's maximum potential would be greater than mine. I think this applies to other things, such as singing, drawing, etc. I can improve my singing, but a top opera singer was born with an ability that I will never be able to match. Am I way off base here? With enough dedication and desire, can everyone achieve the same maximum, or are there innate physical limitations? Peace.
Obviously certain physical make-ups are better suited for specific sports or activities. If you have a naturally small build, you obviously are not as well suited to play hockey or football at an elite level than someone with a larger build. I think more interesting is the question on maximum intelligence.
I believe the human mind can absorb information and become an expert in any field they find interesting.(some of us are handicapped and that slows some down) But pro sports requires more than will power as most college jocks want to play pro sports and most fail.
With enough dedication and desire, can everyone achieve the same maximum, or are there innate physical limitations? Does an Olympic long distance runner, for example, wake up the morning of the big race and decide that he will place last, even though that is what will most likely happen due to his innate physical limitations? Or will he *think* GOLD?
There are over 6 billion of us. Everyone will try but there will always be one Bill Gates, One $9 Trillion country, One Einstein, one Mozart, one Robin Williams, one Babylon5....and so on. There will be always distant seconds, thirds, fourths.....
Me and my roommate also had the debate on maximum human potential. I believe intelligence differs and is a totally different subject than maximum human potential. Each individual is capable of a higher human potential. This is why we see in history and in current events each extraordinary thing humans are capable of doing. Of course some people are more capable of learning and performing certain criteria such as: talented musicians, athletes, artists, mathematicians, nuclear physicists, and the list can go on and on, but each individual is capable of producing some output of a certain trait higher than any other human can.
Human potential? Honestly, I'm tired of that "You got to make something out of yourself BS". Human potential will truly bloom only in the absence of "you got to make something out of yourself" pressures. It's getting ridiculous, parents terrorize 1-2 years old with this potential crap. There is no childhood to speak of, just one big preparation for rat race and making something out of nothing.
Well that was a meaningful and intelligent contribution. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It means even if you achive this GREATEST THING EVARRR, to become a Basketballzz player in the NBA *GASP*. There's some people that really don't give a fuck about that. So it's not that big a deal as you think it is. Play basketball because you like to play basketball, not so you can be/think/haveother's think you are king shit. You're not. It's in fact a fairly useless tangent of human "Potential". But that's ok. Someday some aliens might come down and want to play basket ball and if our dream team loses we die. So we might have that base covered...wheew!
I didn’t make any statement, one way or the other, as to how big a “deal” I think basketball is. I didn’t suggest that anyone should play basketball so that they can be considered by others as “king shit”. I didn’t suggest basketball was either a useful or useless measure of human potential. I see the intelligence level of your contributions remains the same. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
In my teens, I had delusions of grandure & expected to be a Nobel Prize winner as well as a world class athlete. I was a succesful athlete & obviously smarter that almost all of my class mates. Every year I improved until I seemed to have hit a brick wall or a steel ceiling or whatever. Since then, my life experiences, including personal contact with some world class athletes and a genius or two, have convinced me that those who are the very best are born with abilities which the rest of us do not have. Einstein, Bohr, Feynman, Sondheim, Mozart, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, et cetera have potential way beyond that of the other billions on this earth. Any of them could have been crippled by extremely bad environments, preventing them from reaching their true potential. There are/were perhaps many with world class potential who never applied themselves & failed to achieve much more than I did. However, there are many billions who could never under any circumstances achieve at the world class level in any area of human activity. One of my favorite fictional characters said. Of course the above view is politically incorrect & I expect to be told that it is invalid, immoral, & perhaps fattening.
I think you are looking the whole thing sideways.... Yes, there are people who are Outliers - like Bill Gates etc...but I think our free will allows us to be what we want the most not what we would like to be. If you would have taken performance drugs, you could have been a great athlate...but it all depends how bad your want was. When I get stuck at solving a complex problem, i take a brain booster and then go to sleep. When I wake up, the problem is solved. However, there are many billions who could never under any circumstances achieve at the world class level in any area of human activity. That may not be the purpose in life. We really do not know what our roles are in the greater scheme of things. So, do the best you can and let the universe unfold as it should be. My motto is similar to: http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm
And, yes, basketball is useless garbage. God knows why anyone likes that crappy sport. Actually, sports in general are a waste of time. And I could probably understand someone liking basketball, actually, if they have the misfortune of comparing it with the most useless crappy boring sport in the history of mankind - baseball.
Not sure why you are taking what I'm saying personally. I was about to explain my responses are to the original poster - then I saw that this is a fuckin 7 year old thread. Now I *DO* feel stupid. At least I found another person on this board, whom I could really give a flying fuck what they say. Not a total loss...
You are talking GREATNESS, which is the convergance to a predisposition to a specific field and the reality of that pursuit... you're talking Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth and Muhammed Ali. I think greatness exists.
