Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

"We look at the young Bill Gates and marvel that our world allowed that thirteen-year-old to become a fabulously successful entrepreneur. But that's the wrong lesson. Our world only allowed one thirteen-year-old unlimited access to a time-sharing terminal in 1968. If a million teenagers had been given the same opportunity, how many more Microsofts would we have today? To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success - the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history - with a society that provides opportunities for all. If Canada had a second hockey league for those children born in the last half of the year, it would today have twice as many adult hockey stars. Now multiply that sudden flowering of talent by every field and profession. The world could be so much richer than the world we have settled for."

Please do not consider the following thoughts as criticism of this book. I loved this book; mainly for the reason it intrigued me and made me think. 

How many Microsofts would we have today? My question is how many Microsofts can we have...is their room for more than one, two, or three? That is a tough question to answer because it is hard to grasp was has not been invented and what had the potential to be invented but never came to fruition. If there were more than one Microsoft is there the potential of not having one be as successful as Microsoft?

I agree with opportunity for all, especially from an educational standpoint. I believe that everyone should have access to the same/best education. However, I believe in having a variety of resources (translated: enough different resources so that everyone can find something that suits them) but that each resource be somewhat limited as to weed out the try-ers and the passerby-ers. A second hockey league may result in twice as many adult hockey PLAYERS...but stars? Isn't it already tough enough to make it to a professional level? There would have to be multiple professional leagues to accommodate all these young hopefuls. But is it possible to have two professional leagues that are equally successful?

I think that the solution explained in the quoted paragraph could, in the extreme circumstances, result in one of two situations: communism or cannibalism. By communisim I mean that everyone will have a piece of the pie i.e. there will be multiple Microsofts but not one as successful as Microsoft. By cannibalism I mean competition will be so intense that it will turn into "kill or be killed" i.e. twice as many adult hockey stars and one professional league.