EN48 - I would agree that there is no merit in starting from scratch, as far as learning limits goes.
Some of us were fortunate enough to learn from a pool of other, more experienced, pilots in our formative (big squadron) aviation years, where the melting pot provided different opinions & methods of achieving a similar result. That said, when an individual was deemed experienced enough to bring on other, less experienced, pilots, it did not stop many from subsequently exploring their own, and/or aircraft limits - and sadly, in some cases, coming to a sticky end.
My earlier post was just commenting that an element of risk taking & limit finding is very much in the nature of the pilot-beast - especially in a Military environment where knowing the limits of man & machine can mean the difference between life & death, in more ways than one. In the military, however, it's obviously accepted that there's an element of risk - one that should not be transferred into a civilian arena unless the only person likely to be affected is the solo pilot . . . which is not to condone it, just reduce the fallout if it goes wrong.
I should add that, like many, I have read the accident reports in detail for many years, in the hope that, if the chips are ever down, I might have learnt something from someone else's misfortune.