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Is it true that if you have a skill or occupation in your history you are likely to succeed in it? For example, Japan and Korea have a game similar to soccer, which they used to play in their history. However, China has no such game. Is this the reason why Japan and Korea are better at soccer than China?

This doesn't just apply to sports. What about being a sailor? a farmer? Does having these occupations in your ancestry mean that you have certain skills, or instincts to help you succeed in these occupations?

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For complex actions you don't need a special skill, but a skillset. For soccer you may profit from a strong shot, fast running abilities, a good condition, a tall person might have advantages with the header, dealing with the referee if you're charming and polite, and so on, and so on. Many attributes, which form an advantage in one way, are a disadvantage in the other way. – user unknown May 24 '11 at 4:53
@user unknown: Baseball is a particularly good example for sports. Consider the mediocre performance of athletes like Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan, much better athletes than baseball players. – David Thornley May 24 '11 at 13:37
@David: I'm sorry, I have no idea what you like to say. – user unknown May 24 '11 at 14:07
Could we get another title? "having it in your blood" isn't a very good one for several reasons. – Martin Scharrer May 24 '11 at 14:43
Forgive me if I'm missing something but what is heredition? – Monkey Tuesday May 24 '11 at 20:44
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A lot of mental and physical skills are heritable (IQ, for one).

If you accept a logical conclusion that over the course of history people who possessed a great deal of skills useful in a profession gravitated towards a profession where those skills would be utilized more effectively, then their children would likely possess the same traits (it's not 100% guaranteed - that's not what heritability means).

Examples of heritable skills:

  • Facial recognition (e.g. law enforcement)

  • Overall IQ (heritability 0.7-0.8 - source: Plomin, R.; Pedersen, N. L.; Lichtenstein, P.; McClearn, G. E. (1994). "Variability and stability in cognitive abilities are largely genetic later in life". Behavior Genetics 24 (3): 207–15. doi:10.1007/BF01067188. PMID 7945151. and a bunch of others linked on Wiki ).

    This means that professions requiring higher IQ (engineers, masons, war chiefs) would be included.

  • Autism (A list of references is on Wiki, I will copy/paste one later when I have more time or hope someone copy/pastes them in the interim). Autism spectrum disorders (especially Aspergers) are heritable AND highly correlated with geek professions.

    Again, engineers, monks, scribes, lawyers, alchemists/philosophers/scientists, etc...

  • Physical skills (both mental such as reaction time, spacial orientation etc... and purely physical - endurance, strength) - [citation needed]

    E.g. sailors would need good spacial orientation and balance, and high tolerance for bad rum.

Please note that not all professions are the same skill-wise, and not all skills are equally heritable.

Farming (one of your examples) doesn't exactly require much in the way of heritable skills (though it requires learned ones).

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