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Study Concludes that Luck, not Talent or Smarts, Results in Wealth

posted by janrinok on Saturday March 03 2018, @11:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-my-luck dept.

Robotron writes:

MIT Tech Review reports on a new study which used computer model to analyze wealth distribution in society. It concludes that the majority of riches do not result from talent, intelligence or hard work - but luck. Those who succeed most in modern society are born well and experience several 'lucky events' which they exploit, but are of mediocre talent. The study's abstract states that the model has potential for encouraging investment in the genuinely gifted, and summarizes:

"...if it is true that some degree of talent is necessary to be successful in life, almost never the most talented people reach the highest peaks of success, being overtaken by mediocre but sensibly luckier individuals. As to our knowledge, this counterintuitive result - although implicitly suggested between the lines in a vast literature - is quantified here for the first time."

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:43AM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:43AM (#647501) Journal

    TFA (and the quote in TFS) say that the most talented people don't become the richest. But that does NOT imply that it's ALL luck. TFA makes clear that one has to be talented enough to take advantage of lucky breaks.

    A more accurate headline would be: "Study concludes that luck, COUPLED WITH talent or smarts, results in GREATEST wealth."

    I think most people would agree with that.

    The surprising factor here is that the role of luck may be larger than most people would expect (though not me, since I've realized for several years now the role randomness plays in life is quite significant, as anyone who understands basic stats would realize). Better summary quote from TFA:

    But the wealthiest [i.e., not just wealthy but wealthiest] individuals are not the most talented (although they must have a certain level of talent). They are the luckiest.

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