It'd be worthwhile to point out that many of these "best and brightest" come from predominantly Western/wealthy countries and are raised in enviroments conducive to learning and technology. They often, but not always, go to excellent colleges in wealthy countries with good education systems and succeed in corpos or organizations based in the same nations. As the article pointed out, the thirst for knowledge, passion, drive, etc., are usually all due to either nature (inhereted from the parents) or nurtute (growing up in an enviroment that encourages said traits). There are certainly people who have beat the odds, but outliers are expected. The general trend is that the advantaged create offspring who are also advantaged. Sure, regression towards the mean exists but someone born in a wealthy nation with an enviroment that supports education is almost always going to be better off than someone born into a poor nation in an enviroment that doesn't value education.