[syops]

What is theorized to be impossible is learning a language as an adult if you did not learn a language as a child. That is, if at age 20 you know 0 languages then you’ll never be able really learn a language. For obvious reasons experiments in this regard are few.

My conclusion is that some people simply can’t learn algebra. Be it genetic, environmental, lack of intellectual fortitude, lack of “intelligence”, or any combination thereof it is simply the case that some people can’t learn algebra.

[wintermutestwin]

I wonder if you are equating "can't" and "lack of intellectual fortitude" with "aren't truly motivated to do so."

Considering that a small percentage of careers require more than basic algebra/geometry/statistics, it's not hard to see that math has a "why should I learn this?" problem more than a "am I able to learn this?" problem.

[bawolff]

Environmental covers a lot. A mal-nourished homeless person probably cannot learn algebra - they would have much more immediate concerns to deal with.

However that feels really different from saying a not insignificant portion of the population, inherently cannot.

[antocv]

Yes everybody can learn to code and get rich if they just put their will into it.