My problem with Paul Graham's work is he keeps pushing on nature over nurture. Most work can actually be learned and you don't need a "natural aptitude" for it. This is especially true of knowledge work like programming, but also true of things like 'musical' or 'acting' or anything else. Most things can be learned.
I wish Paul Graham would stop pushing that silly outdated concept of "natural aptitude".
IMO this comment goes too far in the other direction. There is a lot of "natural aptitude" in what we can learn, and more specifically, what we can learn to do well. I can theoretically learn ballet, but I have no "natural aptitude" and so I will never be even OK at it. Similarly, my wife could try to learn programming, but her brain isn't able to make sense of how programming works. The big thing is that just because you don't have "natural aptitude" for something doesn't make you a worse human. It just means your strengths are elsewhere.
I wish Paul Graham would stop pushing that silly outdated concept of "natural aptitude".