Fun inversion from Thorndike (1921). The normal angle is: "Why are some people so much better at some things? What are the limits of expertise?" He reframes to: "Why do most people remain so mediocre at things they spend their whole lives doing?"
andymatuschak.org/files/papers/T (p. 178)
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You can tell he's kind of mad about it (particularly see the following page here). I find this a bit odd. In many of the more mundane cases he cites (e.g. handwriting) it probably is sensible to reach some threshold and just stay there!
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Hm! For handwriting in particular, I wonder if one cause for plateauing is that focused practice would make their handwriting more legible to *others*… but meaningfully more legible to oneself, so it’s not as salient? (Great tip on the PDF link! Wish there were OS-level support)