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Ordinary Incompetence · Gwern.net

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Incompetence is the norm; most people who engage in a task (even when incentivized for performance or engaging in it for countless hours) may still be making basic errors which could be remedied with coaching or deliberate practice. economics, IQ, psychology, sociology A mule who has carried a pack for 10 campaigns under Prince Eugene⁠ will be no better a tactician for it, and it must be confessed, to the disgrace of humanity, that many men grow old in an otherwise respectable profession without making any greater progress than this mule. Frederick the Great⁠, “Thoughts on Tactics”⁠⁠1⁠ Psychology: ⁠Thorndike1921⁠ on the poor correlation of experience/expertise The Range of Human Capacities⁠, Wechsler1935 (where absolute measures of performance, such as running speed, are available, a sample of ~1000 healthy normal people will span a range of only ~3×—so if you can do 1.5× more of something than the median person, then you may well be in the 99.9th percentile?) Deliberate practice⁠, eg.

--- title: "Ordinary Incompetence" description: "Incompetence is the norm; most people who engage in a task (even when incentivized for performance or engaging in it for countless hours) may still be making basic errors which could be remedied with coaching or deliberate practice." created: 2021-06-04 modified: 2021-06-04 status: finished confidence: log importance: 6 css-extension: dropcaps-de-zs ... > A mule who has carried a pack for 10 campaigns under [Prince Eugene](!W "Prince Eugene of Savoy") will be no better a tactician for it, and it must be confessed, to the disgrace of humanity, th

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