Post

aSyd🪿
@dysphoric.dev

I've been thinking a lot about talent lately. People often say "oh, this person is so talented" as a positive thing about people who are good at what they do. I'm not sure if it is really nice to say though, as getting good at something one has no talent for is a lot harder, and to me impressive.

aSyd🪿
@dysphoric.dev

I am talented in many things. Almost everything I do I have some amount of natural talent for. This is partly because I tend to drop things I can't get good at quickly, and move back to things that come easily to me. A big thing I've been trying to do more of is to make myself do things that don't.

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aSyd🪿
@dysphoric.dev

So to me "they have no talent for this but they still ended up amazing at it" is possibly the nicest mean sounding thing to say about someone who is skilled at something.

aSyd🪿
@dysphoric.dev

anyways, I will end up learning to play some chords on the guitar eventually, even if my fingers are convinced it's not physically possible to move in that way

aSyd🪿
@dysphoric.dev

Jumping back into this line of thought, I believe this cultural focus on talent is a big part why AI is used so much to shortcut the creative process, with poor results. People think that if they are not talented at creating art, they cannot do it, so they skip the process instead of getting better

aSyd🪿
@dysphoric.dev

Also, I don't think "untalented" should be thrown around as an insult, even if it is an easy way to make fun of people who put out bad AI generated "art". It's not someone's fault they have no talent, and they can't change it either. Lazy, while not being a great insult either, is much more fitting