I think only a small minority of people are "naturals" at their chosen activity, and even they often get support from other "naturals" somehow. For me, encouragement always played a huge role. All my attempts to learn stuff in a supportive setting worked very well, and all my attempts to learn stuff in isolation failed.
"naturals" at their chosen activity
It's not a function of activity, it's a learning style (to use an overused expression) which applies to all kinds of activities.
All my attempts to learn stuff in a supportive setting worked very well, and all my attempts to learn stuff in isolation failed.
Right, but the typical mind fallacy is a thing. I'm your opposite -- I learn best by myself and a class/group just gets in the way for me -- but I know that people unlike me exist :-)
LW has a problem. Openly or covertly, many posts here promote the idea that a rational person ought to be able to self-improve on their own. Some of it comes from Eliezer's refusal to attend college (and Luke dropping out of his bachelors, etc). Some of it comes from our concept of rationality, that all agents can be approximated as perfect utility maximizers with a bunch of nonessential bugs. Some of it is due to our psychological makeup and introversion. Some of it comes from trying to tackle hard problems that aren't well understood anywhere else. And some of it is just the plain old meme of heroism and forging your own way.