Skeptics Guide #942

The Skeptics Guide To The Universe

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #942 July 27th 2023 Segment #1. Quickie with Steve https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/yet-another-alzheimers-drug/ Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Can AI Learn Like Humans https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230720124956.htm News Item #2 – Room Temperature Superconductor https://www.iflscience.com/first-room-temperature-ambient-pressure-superconductor-achieved-claim-scientists-70001 News Item #3 – A Galaxy Without Dark Matter https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/a-galaxy-without-dark-matter/ News Item #4 – Men Convicted For Mineral Solution https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article277475553.html Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Talent Hi, My friend and I have been having an ongoing discussion for a long time about the role of talent in people's abilities and I thought it would be interesting to hear all of your perspectives. The discussion is a lot to summarize and I think talent itself is difficult to define. For example, my friend has mentioned several times that things like natural abilities or genetics are what gives a person their talent. But to me, things like size, speed and others are all trainable to some degree and also depend a lot on development. Like if you grow up food insecure you probably aren't going to be as tall as you have the potential to be. My friend brings up the example of Michael Phelps and his out of the ordinary body in terms of wingspan and lung capacity. I argued back that his lungs probably wouldn't have developed in such a way if he wasn't the athlete that he is and while there are always going to be people far on the outside of the normal distribution of a certain characteristic, that alone isn't going to be the reason they are successful at something. At the end of the day, I think the biggest contribution to individual success is always going to be the amount of work that is put in. But how does that account for the edge cases at the very top? What is the difference between a chess player like Masnus Carlson and someone who ranks outside of the top 100? The amount of work they do is probably similar and my friend argues that the difference comes down to a natural talent level while I think it's more complicated than that. I have a problem attributing so much to the nebulous term of talent and I think it takes away from a lot of the effort that people put into being as good as they are. This particular friend, for example, has gotten to a 2k+ elo in chess through what he says are thousands of hours of practice. Anyway, I am curious to hear what you all think. Thanks, Mitch PS This whole discussion reminds me of something that Steve said about the Jimmy Neutron in an episode long ago. Basically Steve didn't like the show because it doesn't show the hard work at coming up with a scientific solution, or something along those lines. I think the whole conversation is similar to the one about IQ, especially when it comes to chess as my friend will bring up the IQ of players such as Carlson. But I would point out that we don't know if their high IQ makes them good at chess or if their IQ is high because they are good at chess. Segment #5. Science or Fiction Each week our host will come up with three science news items or facts, two genuine, one fictitious. He will challenge our panel of skeptics to sniff out the fake – and you can play along. #1) Scientists have been able to reanimate nematodes taken from Siberian permafrost that were frozen for 46 thousand years. #2) New research finds that, despite diverging evolutionarily 179 million years ago, the honeycomb design of honey bee and paper wasp nests derives from a common ancestor. #3) Researchers were able to transplant mitochrondria into damaged kidney cells improving energy production and reducing toxicity and physiological stress. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week “Critical thinking is an active and ongoing process. It requires that we all think like Bayesians, updating our knowledge as new information comes in.” ― Daniel J. Levitin, A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age