Quote from Mav88:
right, it's not just about learning, it is about useful synthesis of new results from that knowledge.
Most people don't challenge themselves to the point where they reach their cognitive limits, but when they do it become quite clear who has the most natural processing power. I have an undergraduate degree in math, the levels of talent were very noticeable even though we were all putting in the same time and were 'nurtured' the same. People like Isaac Newton are simply better equipped.
Memory is an important function that I have not purposefully tried to develope, but I think people like Kasparov do. Memory by itself though is useless, there are plenty of savants with exceptional memory but can't put it to good use. Kasparov uses memory to visualize many chess moves into the future and devise a strategy. It took IBM several iterations on their deep blue supercomputer to beat him. You cannot nurture the average person to Kasparov competance.
The nurture argument is way overdone in my opinion, and has become a political tool for blacks to get more money. I was one of 6, my blue collar parents had no time to nurture anyone yet by second grade the teacher was using me for a math grader of the other students since I took the workbook home and did half a years worth over a weekend all by myself. The older I get, the more people I know came from broken homes and yet they showed very good cognitive application. So what is it exactly that black mothers are doing wrong? We know dad isn't around, what exactly are the black mothers doing to hold their kids back? It's all another politically correct pile of crap.