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What is talent?

Archive: 18 posts


Ok, posting this cause my sister said i have a talent for cycling, This made me think, what exactly is a talent? how can you tell if you have a talent? what happens if you discover you have a talent for something?
I need peoples opinions on this not textbook answers, thanks
2009-10-06 18:55:00

Author:
springs86
Posts: 785


I always considered talent something that comes from within, as opposed to skill which is attainable through hard work.

For example, playing a musical instrument is a skill that anyone can develop to virtuoso level. Actually making music that someone would want to listen to, is a talent.
2009-10-06 19:18:00

Author:
Foofles
Posts: 2278


I'd consider talent being a natural ability to do something. If someone is "talented," they are good at whatever it is that they are doing. Most things that people can be considered talented for, in my opinion, can be built up in the normal person through hard work and determination. If someone is a talented LittleBigPlanet creator, they have a natural "knack" to create. Another creator can practice and work at being a great creator and reach the same skill level, they just may not have had that natural ability to do so.2009-10-06 19:36:00

Author:
BSprague
Posts: 2325


For example, playing a musical instrument is a skill that anyone can develop to virtuoso level. .

I bet I could prove you wrong! In all seriousness, I have atrocioius musical ability. I have zero pitch, I can't tell an A from a G from a Z-flat-sharp. and I've even tried to train my ear! Music is a perfect example of "natural talent", because it's something I've tried to learn, and I've pretty much come to conclude that it's not really in me. Just innately, I'm no good with music, with rhythm, with pitch and tone.

Meanwhile, some people are practically born with musical ability built-in. I saw a short documentary called "The Musical Mind" (or maybe it was The Musical Brain?) which explored the science of this by scanning the brains of musically-gifted people as they played and listened to music.

So I think I agree with everyone - when I think of "talent", I generally think of something innate, something natural, rather than something developed.
2009-10-06 21:49:00

Author:
Teebonesy
Posts: 1937


I bet I could prove you wrong! In all seriousness, I have atrocioius musical ability. I have zero pitch, I can't tell an A from a G from a Z-flat-sharp. and I've even tried to train my ear! Music is a perfect example of "natural talent", because it's something I've tried to learn, and I've pretty much come to conclude that it's not really in me. Just innately, I'm no good with music, with rhythm, with pitch and tone.

I implore you to watch this (http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html)
2009-10-06 22:09:00

Author:
Syroc
Posts: 3193


I think talent is the ability you can notice that you have and comes from how you develloped yourself since birth. So in a way it's pretty close to "skill" to me.
If you'd learn and experiment nothing, you would become nothing, your body would not devellop properly either. When you "discover" you have a talent, it's just because you didn't realised before that your develloped yourself into a person that fits that activity/action.

.
2009-10-07 18:10:00

Author:
RangerZero
Posts: 3901


I think talent is just something you enjoy naturally.

Because you enjoy it, you get good at it really fast

That's just me thinking though.
2009-10-07 22:50:00

Author:
snowyjoe
Posts: 509


i'd say talent is being able to lick your elbow . lol, nah, I would say its something that comes to you naturally or enjoy.2009-10-07 22:52:00

Author:
Unknown User


To me, things like being able to lick your elbow aren't talents, they are "quirks", "oddities", "rarities", or however else you'd look at it. I've stated my opinion above, so no need to go into that, but I feel that even talent can be mimicked with training, practice, and perseverance.2009-10-08 01:34:00

Author:
BSprague
Posts: 2325


Then again is talent really talent?

Maybe we actually develop the skills of talent with-out realizing it and think it's talent?
2009-10-08 01:42:00

Author:
snowyjoe
Posts: 509


It's an old currency.

2009-10-08 08:32:00

Author:
Syroc
Posts: 3193


I think Talent is something your subconscious mind has always known how to do - It's just waiting for your conscious mind to catch up.2009-10-10 13:30:00

Author:
noddle111
Posts: 174


I don't think natural "talent" exists. I think hard work and dedication is what makes you talented. I'm good at the guitar, but I think it's because of two things: Guitar Hero and videogames had helped my coordination before I got serious about playing guitar, and I practice a lot.2009-10-10 13:46:00

Author:
qrtda235566
Posts: 3664


Ahem...Mozart.2009-10-10 14:25:00

Author:
BasketSnake
Posts: 2391


This is talent (http://tinyurl.com/9y4uaq)

I'm sorry! Just stumbled across it again.
2009-10-10 20:57:00

Author:
Syroc
Posts: 3193


When you work on something, like drawing or bicycling, you are able to it without messing up. If you want it, work and work on it. Eventually, you'll do it better and better and be able to do more things and when your perfect, in your own eyes, THAT is talent.2009-10-11 05:20:00

Author:
TheMarvelousHat
Posts: 542


Science has proved that you can't be a true pro without practising in about
10 000 hours
I started to draw some months old, and I may be a bit good, but I still have lot to learn.

Some people still have an affinity for certain things when they are born, while some haven't. That may be an In-the-genes thing.
2009-10-11 12:25:00

Author:
moonwire
Posts: 1627


I'd say that talent is... Hrm... Forgive me is this ends up being hard to follow. It all sounds good in my head. Anyway, talent is a sort of immeasurable quantity that dictates how good one is at a given activity with minimal practice. Take Eddie van Halen for example. He spends all his time practicing cello and piano, playing classical music and whatnot, and yet he can just pick up a guitar and make it sing. That is talent, I say. Some might say "gifted" but I think it's the same thing.

We've all heard of these child prodigies that can really rip up a piano at the age of 7, right? That's talent right there. Unless he practices for hours and hours, the average joe won't generally be able to reach that level of prowess. I'm sure someone somewhere said everybody can do everything (or maybe not...) but some people can do things better than others. That's my take, anyway.
2009-10-11 17:52:00

Author:
dandygandy2704
Posts: 1002


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