I agree that this is true, but people often cite chess as an example where exponential hardware increases in the same algorithms led to only linear (Elo) gains.
This is people being stupid in one direction. This isn’t a good reason to be stupid in another direction. The simplest explanation is the Elo functions as something like a a log scale of actual ability.
Just to clarify, what do you mean by “actual ability’? In something like the 100 m dash, I can think of “actual ability” as finish time. We could construct an Elo rating based on head-to-head races of thousands of sprinters, and it wouldn’t be a log scale of finish times. Do you just mean percentile in the human distribution?
Also, regarding
This is people being stupid in one direction. This isn’t a good reason to be stupid in another direction. The simplest explanation is the Elo functions as something like a a log scale of actual ability.
Just to clarify, what do you mean by “actual ability’? In something like the 100 m dash, I can think of “actual ability” as finish time. We could construct an Elo rating based on head-to-head races of thousands of sprinters, and it wouldn’t be a log scale of finish times. Do you just mean percentile in the human distribution?
Yes (within some approximation. Weird things happen for very large or very small Elo values.)