To Be Curious

One of the biggest problems of the United States is a lack of curiosity — a genuine interest in learning things.

Curious people are okay with not knowing, because how can you be curious if you know everything?

Curious people ask questions to learn, not to lead.

Curious people say "I don't know" or, even more important, "I was wrong."

Curious people withhold snap judgement. Surely there is a reason this thing exists. Surely this person holds this belief for some reason. Surely I'm missing something, and if I dig a little deeper, there will be illumination.

Curious people are never fully satisfied with answers, because there might be better answers that we haven't found yet.

Curious people don't offload their intellect or beliefs or worldviews to another person or organization or robot. Certainly, they love a good teacher who can open their eyes to what they don't know, but even the best teachers can be dogmatic and shortsighted.

Curious people don't silo what they know, they share it as wide and far as they can.

Curious people are okay holding differences of opinion, but cannot abide when opinion flies in the face of facts and data.

But curious people also do not let data prevent them from holding the real, lived experiences of people, because people are more important than data.

Curious people are curious about people.

Curious people do not limit what they choose to learn by who they are or what they've done in the past. They know that they have the capacity to learn anything, given enough time and attention.

But curious people know when to rely on the expertise of other curious people who have already spent that time and attention. They can recognize someone who has thought more about their field than most other humans.

Curious people wonder, let that wonder turn into questions, and then ask those questions to find answers. But it starts with wonder.

I fear that my country is losing its curiosity.

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Exhibit A:

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Exhibit B:

How AI Destroys Institutions

Exhibit C:

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Exhibit D:

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task – MIT Media Lab