[taway98765]

1) Genes do play a role but it's still an ongoing research on the real impact they have. The current upper estimate for general intelligence is around 7-10%[1] which leaves the median of the population unaffected(meaning, 1 in 10k people born in poverty may be able to escape a slam and be successful(with all the grey area this word entails) because if this random boost - but the median is what we should focus on when designing our social/educational system .. sooo

2) We're all different* in a way but its primarily our environment that stimulates our intellect. From early age - music, lego/toys boosting creativity, conversations promoting curiosity about the world around .. educated parents(with enough free time and financial/social security[2]) and good schools - mozart would not write a single note had he been born in a poor lumberjacks family(he might have been a pina always playing tunes with some wood laying around - but even this is probably not true since he wouldn't have been exposed to music during his early life(~3-5y) meaning his brain wouldn't wire itself sufficiently to enjoy music as much as to become suff. motivated to go through the hassle/it would be difficult to "grow" a reward cycle for this particular activity; and even if - even if he had understanding parents etc - if they couldn't afford to get him a music instrument/send him to music school he'd probably end up as a lumberjack anyway)

It's time to get our heads out of our as*s, throw away the sociopathic narcissism/individualism that is so blatantly being promoted these days and look at the reality: You can't really boost your egos looking from above on all the people living in poverty/homeless/lower class or those who just "didn't make it" - because you haven't had the same starting position( >1) ). It would be OK to feel "superior" - looking at your car-park/property list - and despise people below(well not really but lets forget about the implications for now) - if everyone would have the same opportunities as you had(pre-school - should filter out bad parenting as well - /school/uni/entry capital/enough social and financial security to be able to take the same risks ..). In such a world - with a working education system and social safety net - there would still be "losers", a lazy good-for-nothing percentage/large leisure-crowd but if one of them decided that - after 10y of doing nothing, with friends all making contributions to medicine/science/writing novels/doing art he'd want to do something with his life too(which is the default for most people - till our current education system won't beat this out of your head) - he should have an opportunity to start school/business/project without taking 2 jobs and putting his family on an emergency budget ..

BTW The Original Position by John Rawls is a good thought experiment for this discussion[3]