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Robert Lin
Robert Lin
@robertl.in
11 months ago
Saturday – April 5, 2025 #36 | What is "talent"? It takes more than effort and an attitude of learning + replying to Ted Chiang Got some strong reactions to my last essay so here are some more thoughts: First, I totally understand that talented people need to put in work. That's table stakes. Anyone who is good at anything has put in the work. Thousands of hours at the gym shooting the ball at the hoop. Hundreds of hours at the piano practicing. Obviously, effort and an attitude of learning is necessary. But to be crystal clear: effort and grit are not sufficient. Anyone who thinks effort and attitude is enough to get good at art is someone with talent. Someone who has not spent hundreds/thousands of hours trying to improve at something but failing over and over until just giving up. If effort and a learning attitude is all that's necessary, why aren't there more Steph Currys? Literally, you could simply put someone out at the 3-point line and just have them practice making baskets all day. This is because Curry has talent. Yes, he's obviously practiced a ton. But additionally, for whatever reason, he's able to launch the ball pretty consistently with exactly the right spin, arc, velocity at the hoop to make the basket. Think of all the hand-eye coordination happening in milliseconds; all of the fast-twitch muscles firing. (And he's able to do it in the heat of the game with the clock winding down and everything on the line.) In short, more often than not, whatever he's able to visualize in his mind's eye, he's able to physically manifest into reality. I think about drawing in a similar vein. To draw something aesthetically pleasing requires making thousands of individual decisions. How thick to make this line? What color to shade here? How much shadow to apply there? Etc...

Saturday – April 5, 2025 #36 | What is "talent"? It takes more than effort and an attitude of learning + replying to Ted Chiang Got some strong reactions to my last essay so here are some more thoughts: First, I totally understand that talented people need to put in work. That's table stakes. Anyone who is good at anything has put in the work. Thousands of hours at the gym shooting the ball at the hoop. Hundreds of hours at the piano practicing. Obviously, effort and an attitude of learning is necessary. But to be crystal clear: effort and grit are not sufficient. Anyone who thinks effort and attitude is enough to get good at art is someone with talent. Someone who has not spent hundreds/thousands of hours trying to improve at something but failing over and over until just giving up. If effort and a learning attitude is all that's necessary, why aren't there more Steph Currys? Literally, you could simply put someone out at the 3-point line and just have them practice making baskets all day. This is because Curry has talent. Yes, he's obviously practiced a ton. But additionally, for whatever reason, he's able to launch the ball pretty consistently with exactly the right spin, arc, velocity at the hoop to make the basket. Think of all the hand-eye coordination happening in milliseconds; all of the fast-twitch muscles firing. (And he's able to do it in the heat of the game with the clock winding down and everything on the line.) In short, more often than not, whatever he's able to visualize in his mind's eye, he's able to physically manifest into reality. I think about drawing in a similar vein. To draw something aesthetically pleasing requires making thousands of individual decisions. How thick to make this line? What color to shade here? How much shadow to apply there? Etc...

Sat-Apr 5, 2025

#ScreenshotEssay #36: "What is 'talent'? It takes more than effort and an attitude of learning + replying to @ted-chiang.bsky.social"

"AI has helped *quantize* the choices that go into creating art."

1. archive.ph/igtnw
2. youtu.be/b8yscBsO42c

#r2025.04 #r2025 #rl36 #ai #llm #art

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