Everyone's mountain has a peak. We have a finite amount of compute power in our heads, and a finite amount of time on the earth. That means we have a fixed amount of complexity we can work through.

That said, fixing someone's shitty microservice code is probably not bottlenecked by our cognitive capacities. It's probably bottlenecked by financial constraints.

At the point where all your practicing is just maintaining your performance, you've reached your peak. You can stay there, or you can go higher if you practice more (or better). But there is a finite amount of practicing you can do each day. (Studies argue that 4 hours is plenty.) So there is an absolute limit per individual.

Are we talking about a physical skill or a personal capacity for knowledge? Because while your argument might have merit when applied to something like sports, it doesn't hold much water when talking about accumulated knowledge. Yes, I might forget how to do a math problem the way I could when studying for a test in college, but I'll never forget that knowledge exists and where to find it if I should need to relearn. The metaphorical peak I'm speaking of relates to a person's ability to index knowledge like a search engine for the internet.

>Yes, I might forget how to do a math problem the way I could when studying for a test in college, but I'll never forget that knowledge exists and where to find it if I should need to relearn. The metaphorical peak I'm speaking of relates to a person's ability to index knowledge like a search engine for the internet.

The answer to your problem is actually and always "the internet". There, you've peaked.

Well at least it was after high school

Mental performance needs practice just like physical performance. At some point you max out. And if you don't keep up practicing at level, your performance declines. Knowledge too is bound by those rules. We're constantly forgetting as we learn new stuff.

> I'll never forget that knowledge exists and where to find it if I should need to relearn.

Meaning you'd have to practice to again reach your former performance. Sure you may reach your peak level again and reach it quicker thanks to your old practice. But you do need to practice again. And then again, if you want to keep it.

True, but I just need to stop thinking I can climb every mountain faster than people focusing on a couple. To put it another way, I need to rely more on others' progress. Even better, help them progress.

Yes, but different people are climbing different slopes; everyone can keep climbing, but that doesn't mean they'll reach the same height.

Yes, but those slopes are indeterminate from an outside observer because success comes from within. For every person you think you might have pigeon-holed, I'll show you another that broke the mold. You see everyone starts off facing a metaphorical vertical cliff in anything they attempt. It's over time that you learn the passages and tools that make it easier to climb; that lessen the slope. Unless we're talking about physically dunking a basketball, anyone can be a savant in something with enough effort. But again that future effort is not knowable to a 3rd party, they can only base opinions on past observations. People can change and they can change in an instant.