> Don't let the existence of someone be the excuse you use to tell yourself you couldn't also do something cool or great.
Commenter was replying to someone who said
> I feel that Terrence Tao doesn't get much recognition outside of maths circles but he's one of those people who just seem to be in a totally different league.
and I highlight
> one of those people who just seem to be in a totally different league.
He is a chess teacher who decided to train his daughters in chess from a very young age. What do you know, two of them became the first and second best players, with the best being considered the best woman chess player of all time. Unlikely that they somehow just all got chess genius "genes" from him.
It really does seem that heavy investment from a young age by a good teacher can work wonders.
> It really does seem that heavy investment from a young age by a good teacher can work wonders.
This is not the bet. It is not any arbitrary skill.
I specifically said
> I'd bet any amount of money you want that you could just do the same thing with any arbitrary human and create a mathematician of his caliber.
But likely that they inherited high IQ.
So perhaps when you start with sufficiently intelligence kids, you can train them to become virtually anything. But this does not apply to everyone.
The idea that any kid who gets a lot of investment at a young age from world renowned mathematicians will be another Terrence Tao or even 10% of Tao is not plausible.
He may not like the genius label, but in his case, it is absolutely true.