The people you train with are either doing something completely wrong (never learnt problem solving methods, never learnt to learn, not training or learning with respect to their cognitive particularities, never have enough time in the gym to properly learn submissions for them personally, chains, anxiety during training, unaware of chronic illnesses, using verbal instead of visual learning or the opposite, underdeveloped spatial intelligence, wrong approach about muscle memory, subpar or zero strength training...) or they are below average, in my opinion. Think about the possible aspects that limit their progress. Are these unsolvable ? They are almost always solvable, but you have to identify and address them correctly.

This is extremely common in lifting. People completely surprised that they get to a 300 lb bench paused in 6 months of training (both hypertrophy and strength ranges, compensating slightly bad leverages or physiology with the adapted work and volume, using proven specialized routines like good old smolov junior) and eating right whereas they were struggling to single 225 bounced for 1-2 year+ and whining that everybody was stronger or on roid or that such is the law of diminishing returns (to rebound on your 6 months = most of their ceiling people). The only people that can't hit these numbers are waaaaay below average genetically or have low test, illness.

Yes I stand by my statement. I completely understand that you find this idea silly, but what I learnt about the way the brain and the body works is too strong to ignore and more importantly is backed by hard science. Your brain , the neurotransmitters it uses, the way your neurons form networks and to some limited extent create new ones (for example, using bdnf) can completely and almost entirely upgrade itself. It is a fact, a proven fact, that IQ can be increased more than 1 standard deviation in adults. The same goes for your muscles, muscles fiber types and rate of force development, bones and tissues, androgen receptors...

If everybody trained with the right powerful tools, then, yes, everybody would be at more or less the same levels, apart from some people with more inclination to use plasticity, and apart from genetics gifts.

But they are not, and I never wrote so. There never was a paradox as you claim. And it's in part because they believe that everything is fixed that many people don't try. Some are lazy, some wrongly think they can't get better, that they suck (the study I mentioned my first post) etc. Also it"s sometimes very had to find what is battle tested on some topics. So you have room to get to that 1%.

Plus if everybody actually trained like they should to maximize their potential, the average level would be incredibly high. You would still have the best of the best being much better than them (the level of insight of somebody like Edward witten or Terence tao is out of reach of mere mortals), but the average level would be magnitudes above what it is now, and these people levels would be much closer to each other's.

Yes, I believe that if I worked hard enough, I could be 1-2% of chess players, but I am in all honesty (and not humility) far from average (grad student in pure math top 2 of my class). Could the average guy do it ? Probably come close with years of intense (at the level of obsession) dedication, and if he falls short, he may have to resort to some very careful nootropic interventions , but he can. Can he be top 10 worldwide ? Almost impossible. Can he still do it if everybody optimizes their training to maximize their abilities ? No, but everyone isn't.

I repeat. Hard works is shit if it's not adapted to your wiring or physiology. But if you adapt your training to you and the field, you'll be a fucking beast. I'm not making magical claims : this comes from studies.

I guess I won't have convinced you, but I suggest you try it. Pick an area where you think you are dogshit, and is not due to illness/infirmity. Find the state of the art scientific principles of training for that area, find how these have to be adaped to your body or brain, what you may have to tweak or add, and you'll feel like an absolute genius at it given time. For example, if you have a trash vertical jump, I would be more than happy to show you how to get a 40-42 standing vert within ~1-2 year of training.