The Prodigy Paradox - Domo Futu
In an age of viral videos, child prodigies are akin to human cat videos: irresistible and endlessly shareable. A five-year-old chess whiz, a 10-year-old virtuoso violinist, or a pint-sized athlete dominating their peers captures our collective imagination. These stories seem to promise a straight trajectory—from early brilliance to lifelong mastery. The implicit message is clear: if you give a child narrowly focused training early, they’ll stay ahead forever.
But as David Epstein explains in Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, this assumption is fundamentally flawed. The very traits that make prodigies shine in childhood often fail to prepare them for the complexities of adult life, where success depends less on repetition and specialization and more on adaptability and broad knowledge.
The story of Tiger Woods is perhaps the most famous modern example of a child prodigy narrative. At seven months, his father gave him a putter. By two, he was swinging a golf club on national television. By 21, he was the greatest golfer in the world. Stories like this resonate because they align with our belief in linear progression: a head start guarantees long-term dominance.
