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In many fields, the bar for virtuosity has risen sharply, and not because of what we’d normally think of as new tech. eg: The record marathon time 100 years ago would barely qualify for the Boston Marathon today. (h/t A Ericsson) Are there fields in which the bar has regressed?
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Actually, I did both in high school! But I don’t think the bar for *virtuosity* has fallen in that domain—just the median. Seems reasonably likely that virtuosic Latin scholars are even more effective today than 100 years ago, b/c better communications networks etc.
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I think wealth/tech/population growth means that in a lot of areas the bar is higher, but I think there are sports where the best athletes are attracted to other sports and so standards are lowered -- the only examples I can think of now are supremely unpopular sports.
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Car maintenance has its virtuosi. If you watch Wheeler Dealers there seems to be someone somewhere who can fix anything no matter how much car manufacturers try to nobble the OEM aftermarket. One guy diagnosed and resoldered the board of $1350 Corvette EBCM for ten bucks.