Raw LLM Responses

Sadly, 2 systemic problems with how a lot of western societies view education today are showing here: 1. The need to quantify, judge and compare in school and school-adjacent institutions TERRIFIES a lot, probably most people to engage with subjects they do not feel they have "inherent talent" for. 2. The idea of a "genius", of true "originality", of art that transcends centuries and is a pinnacle of any kind of artistic movement or an innovation for a new style is VASTLY, and I wanna stress that another time, VASTLY overestimated. More often than not, people who became renowned artists fell into one of two groups: They had time, ressources and role-models to invest so much time into a subject (music, drawing, writing...) that just by the sheer volume of time spent on what they did, while also having a supporting environment, they achieved a level of understanding that to people with marginal knowledge it looked like magic - like talent. Or they invested time, often TO THEIR OWN DETRIMENT, and eventually found a niche that they perfected, BECAUSE THEY HAD TO, to survive and make at least somwhat of a living of it. There is a survivor's bias at play here is well - we often compare artistic works to works that for good reasons are still known today. We compare us to artists who had ressources that in no kind mirror the ressources of the average person. We don't compare our sketches with sketches, we compare them with final products that show an immense amount of accumulated knowledge, practice and often revision. These 2 problems lead to beliefs such as the one showcased in this video. And it get perpetuated by the constant fear of not belonging, not meeting expectation or standards and just "not being good enough". To rebel against that feeling, it seems neccessary to ascribe value to something mysterious, something unexplainable, something not in our own hands - such as talent. Because, in fact, most of us, given the right circumstances, would be able to produce great art. But it depends on how we choose to spend our time. And it hurts, it hurts so much to admit, to realise that maybe I spent my time on things I didnt even want to spend it on. While others spent their time on something they enjoy, something that THEY deem meaningful, something that actually I MIGHT also deem meaningful but for some reason - often a mix of charactaristics (you could say genetic disposition) and environmental circumstances - I CHOOSE to do otherwise. Sometimes that choice might not even feel like a choice, maybe an abusive parent literally beat me if I practiced singing, playing, drawing... It matters to US obviously, if we had a choice or not, but the outcome is the same: Time spent, time spent on what we wanted to do or not, is what matters THE MOST for any kind of expertise. And yes, it is never too late to start. But it might be too late to achieve greatness IN COMPARISON to those who started earlier. They simply had - more time. And it SUCKS to realise that. But it empowers oneself to ACTUALLY accept that reality AND START ANYWAY. There MIGHT be a place and time for AI and helpful technology to bridge gaps in skill, but it does in no way lead to the same outcome as spending time to learn ANY skill. It will never feel earned, never feel like an accomplishment. And it would be very sad, if we rob ourselves of feeling that rush of having made something, anything in the face of a meaningless existence to SHOW that WE CAN make it meaningful! ❤