Archive for May, 2006
Nature vs. Nurture.
Nature vs. Nurture, one of the hottest debate in academia gets a shot in the arm with Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt of the Freakonomics fame getting involved. Here is a short excerpt from the article (link).
"expert performers, whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming, are nearly always made, not born. And yes, practice does make perfect. These may be the sort of cliches that parents are fond of whispering to their children. But these particular cliches just happen to be true."
However, even though we might not all be born equal, "Practice still makes perfect".
"This is not to say that all people have equal potential. Michael Jordan, even if he hadn't spent countless hours in the gym, would still have been a better basketball player than most of us. But without those hours in the gym, he would never have become the player he was."
Now we just have to wait for the rebuttual from the Nature camp.
Signing Off,
Vishnu Vyas.