[masraum]

Originally posted by RallyJon
Hmm, so if some people have genetic aptitude for physical things, you don't suppose that some people might have genetic aptitude for mental things too?

Shhh, can't say that. Might hurt some kid's self esteem.

Exactly, I think about this from time to time. I see that for the most part average American society doesn't seem to be as interested in education as they should be. I see people who are very capable, but because society doesn't push education like, for instance the Japanese, they end up not fulfilling their potential. At the same time I've met lots of people that seem like they don't have the ability to learn as well as others. Initially if you think about the brains of 10 different people, since the brain just sits inside the skull, they are similarly sized, and even size doesn't seem to be the determining factor of how well they work, it's hard to imagine that they shouldn't all work as well as the rest, but just like muscles, bones, skin, hair, or any other part of the body, there are physiological differences that enable some to perform certain tasks than others. Some people are blessed with "big, strong muscular" brains and some people just have "puny, wimpy, weak" brains.

No matter how many times I come to this conclusion I still want to imagine that everyone has the same potential intellectually, but I know it's not true.

And this includes the fact that some brains perform some functions well and some badly which explains the difference between people that seem like idiots, people who are artistic, people who excel at math and science, or those select few that seem to be able to do anything and everything.