Curiosity
Curiosity is a staple of survival in all creatures. Every living entity has some form of curiosity, allowing them to explore their environment, seek nourishment, and avoid danger. Even when watching a single-celled amoeba through a microscope, a person can observe movement geared towards a tentative grasp of its surroundings. For more complex forms of life, this aspect of curiosity is about exploring the immediate vicinity, checking for danger, seeking edible foods, or even looking for ways to have fun. In particular we see these traits play out in our pets, especially cats who like to get into just about everything.
With a bit of discovery I found that researchers have broken down basic curiosity into two categories: Perceptual Curiosity which is described above and is universal in living creatures; the other is Epistemic Curiosity which steps into the realm of dissecting our environment to discover life’s building blocks.
The human species, as noted by the term of Epistemic Curiosity, has developed a variation on the Perceptual theme, probing further into discovering not only what’s around us, but also leading us to ask questions such as; how can something be used; what is it made of; how far is up; what is below our feet; and how can I expand on this idea? This type of curiosity is one of the main components of our evolution. For millennia we have exercised our curious minds by delving into questions surrounding life and death, science and mysticism, and reason and madness, all of which are well beyond what is necessary for our immediate survival.
Without this type of curiosity we would not be who we are today. Most likely the ancestors of Homo sapiens would have died out long ago and we would be nothing more than a few fossilized remains buried under layers of rock. But it was this curiosity that led us to create and tame fire for our own purposes; to invent weapons to subjugate our enemies and expand our territories, to build walls to keep out the elements, and to develop an agrarian culture.
For the most part, I have viewed curiosity as a marvelous trait, an unpinning of our creative selves where our imaginations can run wild. Where members of our species have gained an extraordinary understanding of the depths of the universe all while building amazing structures, philosophically debating the nature of nature, producing incredible works of art and literature, and gaining insights into the very essence of the human mind. The achievements of the collective “we” are almost beyond comprehension, especially for a mammal, that up until VERY recently on the evolutionary timeline, was digging around the plains of Africa looking for roots to eat.
Since the days of the pharaohs and the ancients Greeks we have been developing centers of learning, places to scratch the itch of curiosity. These places are where people who have gained knowledge can share that information with new generations, allowing their students to explore the equations of existence from a different perspective, thus adding to our overall understanding of everything there is to know.
Despite the wondrous aspects of curiosity and all that it has allowed us to create, discover, and build, there is a darker side to this innate motivational factor. Because of how relatively recently we have been able to utilize our curiosity for discovery, it is like a marvelous toy given to a five-year-old. But it’s a toy that also has many sharp edges. Humans, as is evident on a daily basis in the news, are far from perfect. We seem to be stuck in a nether world between basic instinctual behavior and the wisdom we’re capable of achieving. Unfortunately we have allowed negative attitudes such as greed, infatuation with power, egotism, predatory conduct, insecurity, and short-sighted behavior to plague our planet. We seem unable to reign in these traits regardless of how destructive they are with regard to the potential of self-inflicted extinction.
As relative children along the evolutionary trajectory, we are not fully prepared to use the tool of curiosity exclusively for the betterment of human culture. We do not seem to have an understanding that just because we can create something, doesn’t mean we should, only for the sake of finding out if we can. This lesson was more than apparent with the research at Los Alamos and the subsequent unleashing of the nuclear age. Yet here we are again at a tipping point with Artificial Intelligence.
Leaders bent on control are giving carte blanche to researchers to push the envelope, regardless of the downsides evident to millions of people. Instant facial recognition, the gathering of every bit of personal information shared on the internet, and a constant ability to track one’s whereabouts through GPS, are leading us towards intrusion on an unprecedented scale. All of this brought about through the mantra of; Hmmm, I wonder if this is possible? Wonderful curiosity weaponized as a cudgel.
Ultimately, curiosity is one of our greatest assets and, at the same time, one of the biggest threats to our survival. Without being overly repetitive, our best chance of using our curiosity for the good of all is mindfulness; thinking about what we do and why we do something so that we don’t invent something, regardless of the potential consequences, just because we can.
0 Comments