# Curiosity in Today's Society



## asewland (Mar 5, 2012)

I've noticed something a little disconcerting in today's society. It seems that in many places, asking too many questions how things work or why things are the way they are usually get a response of 'you're asking too many questions' or 'you're being too curious'. It seems that curiousity and exploration in today's society is slowly being rubbed out. :sad:

Do any of you guys every feel the same way?


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## L (Aug 12, 2011)

I think that society, as a whole, is actually trying to destroy itself... call it my own personal conspiracy theory... I just thought of this yesterday/today around midnight so I havn't had much time to think about it. Just thought I'd get the ball rolling in your thread all the same though:happy:


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

I usually laugh when they say that and say "You have absolutely no idea what curious even means, but you still think you can say that? Hilarious. Welp, have fun twittering about this in less than a sentence. Might I suggest "Gawd my life is lyke totalleh boring"?"


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## asewland (Mar 5, 2012)

L_Lawliet said:


> I think that society, as a whole, is actually trying to destroy itself... call it my own personal conspiracy theory... I just thought of this yesterday/today around midnight so I havn't had much time to think about it. Just thought I'd get the ball rolling in your thread all the same though:happy:


I don't think society wants to destroy itself. It would make more sense to say that those in power don't want the common peole to be curious so thy can control them much more easily. The decay of society is most likely a side effect...


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## asewland (Mar 5, 2012)

aef8234 said:


> I usually laugh when they say that and say "You have absolutely no idea what curious even means, but you still think you can say that? Hilarious. Welp, have fun twittering about this in less than a sentence. Might I suggest "Gawd my life is lyke totalleh boring"?"


 I' going to remember that lol


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## L (Aug 12, 2011)

asewland said:


> I don't think society wants to destroy itself. It would make more sense to say that those in power don't want the common peole to be curious so thy can control them much more easily. The decay of society is most likely a side effect...


Like I said, not had much time to think about it properly yet... you just wait though, soon enough I'll make a thread about it lol.


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## lightened (Mar 24, 2012)

Society, specifically the educational system, (highly prominent in the states) does not want to teach children how to develop critical thinking skills. It's not accepted. Being skeptical is seen as being impolite, rude, it just has a negative connotation. It's unfortunate. But don't let those who wish to believe things blindly - having blind faith - govern your gift, the gift of intellectual responsibility, the ability to really look at this world and discover ways to improve what needs to be improved upon.

To question in some people's eyes equates to defiance. That is not always the case. In order to understand, a skeptical mind is necessary. I believe skeptical people are wise, and intelligent.


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## Dark Romantic (Dec 27, 2011)

asewland said:


> I don't think society wants to destroy itself. It would make more sense to say that those in power don't want the common peole to be curious so thy can control them much more easily. The decay of society is most likely a side effect...


This, my friend, is a very astute observation. You are absolutely correct; those in power don't want you to question the foundations of the society they have built, because they've rigged it to benefit themselves at the expense of the masses. They care nothing about you, and want to turn you into a dumb, meek, obedient slave of the system.


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## Finagle (Jun 4, 2011)

I would be very surprised if curiosity was more valued before. 
Actually, the opposite is more likely.

As for the education system, its goal, sadly, is to produce workers. Nothing new there.


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## Minerva1 (Dec 22, 2011)

I find this to be true in many ways. The Arts, for example, are looked down upon in the public education system as being of lesser value. Music and visual art courses are often permitted less funds because of this, therefor causing the quality of the course to suffer. I believe that participating in art classes in high school is beneficial because of the allowed individualistic freedom that is not generally found in more academic classes. 

Also, the illegal position of psychedelic drugs. These drugs make use of brain preceptors that could not necessarily be reached otherwise, often times reconnecting users with the natural land and disconnecting them from their egos. The beauty in these drugs lyes in the new perception of the world, giving many a new sense of creativity. These discoveries open your eyes to the corruption of government systems... so illegal they have become via ze hippie movement and illegal they shall remain.


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## Enfpleasantly (Mar 5, 2012)

Yes, and it is also common for people to be redirected to find the answers to their questions on their own. Like, if you have a question, rather than ask your mentor, go look it up later on. This gives people the impression that asking questions makes one appear dumb. This is dangerous practice IMO and can lead to many errors. People should be able to ask questions and express freely when they do not understand something, however, having the ability to find answers on your own is also very important IMO.


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## wiarumas (Aug 27, 2010)

No. I think you have too much faith in mankind's curiosity in previous generations or whatever you're considering your baseline for comparison. I think its the same as its always been. 500 years ago people were aboard technologically advanced wooden ships and probably didn't ask questions about it.

Be more pessimistic about the masses.


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## L (Aug 12, 2011)

wiarumas said:


> Be more pessimistic about the masses.


You forgot cynical:wink:


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## bellisaurius (Jan 18, 2012)

I ,on the other hand, tend to be amazed with how much curiosity I get away with. Like @wiarumus, I like to think of this historically, and I think there have been very few periods in human history where a common person could get away with as much curiosity as they do today. Ergo, a moderately optimistic viewpoint.


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## Splash Shin (Apr 7, 2011)

Yeah, I whole wholeheartedly agree. Most the time all they have to say is "curiosity killed the cat!" in which I reply to.. "but why?" and "why does everyone keep talking about this darn cat!"


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## Muser (Jul 17, 2011)

HenryJb94 said:


> Yeah, I whole wholeheartedly agree. Most the time all they have to say is "curiosity killed the cat!" in which I reply to.. "but why?" and "why does everyone keep talking about this darn cat!"


My reply would be, "Curiosity found the cat and caught the killer."

I'm really grateful I have the freedom and tools to satisfy my curiosity. We're all pretty lucky.


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## asewland (Mar 5, 2012)

wiarumas said:


> No. I think you have too much faith in mankind's curiosity in previous generations or whatever you're considering your baseline for comparison. I think its the same as its always been. 500 years ago people were aboard technologically advanced wooden ships and probably didn't ask questions about it.
> 
> Be more pessimistic about the masses.


I was thinking about the Age of Exploration to be exact but you're probably right.


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## TrailMix (Apr 27, 2011)

I just find it sad how little people are interested in the world around them and I believe this has always been a problem. I find myself reading articles on random stuff all the time and doing my own little "research projects" on different subjects ranging anywhere from undersea life, to psychology, to cellular respiration. It astounds me that people dont enjoy learning, and frankly, its horrifying that there are so many of them running things! haha...

Asking "why" should never be a chore; it should be natural, and it makes me sad that people are content to live in their little boxes. I always used to piss off my parents because I would ALWAYS be asking "why"


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## Ablysmal (Mar 17, 2012)

If you're curious, you have the potential of unmasking the illusion that society creates. So curiosity is frowned upon by those who are fine with living their shallow lives.


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## Trivial (Dec 30, 2011)

Ablysmal said:


> If you're curious, you have the potential of unmasking the illusion that society creates. So curiosity is frowned upon by those who are fine with living their shallow lives.


Yes, but dont' forget NT rules the world in global strategy and then NF for religious power.


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## Owfin (Oct 15, 2011)

Trivial said:


> Yes, but dont' forget NT rules the world in global strategy and then NF for religious power.


And I just laze around being awesome?

But on topic, I consider curiosity to be an essential trait of my personality. Without it it is very likely that my fear would cripple me from trying new things.


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## Trivial (Dec 30, 2011)

Owfin said:


> And I just laze around being awesome?


 I think it would be good sometimes, that's depend of the point of view.
About the topic, curiosity is necessary, as a seek of knowledge and understanding of the world. In fact if the humanity wasn't curious people couldn't understood how to make fire, make tools, and then be who you are in your civilisation at this time. All around you it's a little part of curiousity. This forum is a way to be curious about yourself etc...


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## NullPointerException (Apr 5, 2012)

Sometimes, it's inefficient to ask question. For example, in a very big meeting, every question asked wastes a large amount of time if you multiply it by the number of people. I think it's nice to be curious, but one should also be considerate of others. Most information should be available on the Internet or in documentations. As technologies continue to improve, more tools will be invented to assist the learning process.

Not all people are interested in all subjects. Given that we have a limited amount of time and that there's a limit to the human mind, it makes sense for people to be expert in a few subjects and have shallow understanding on the rest. So, to say that most people are against curiosity seems like a bad generalization, because given a random person A and a random person B, there probably exists a subject A_s that A is more curious about than B and a subject B_s that B is more curious about than A.

More and more information is being shared on the Internet with constantly improving tools to help people organize and digest the information-- I know because I professionally write software for the classroom that are mostly available to the public. Even with just Google search, most curiosities are satisfied without inefficiently wasting other people's time.


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

NullPointerException said:


> As technologies continue to improve, more tools will be invented to assist the learning process.


Can you elaborate on this? Also specifically with regards to 'lifelong learning', even for those who consider themselves experts or leaders in a particular field.

One of the key limitations of organisation in our world is ignorance of our own ignorance. The problem is that problems and solutions often fall through the cracks or are held back for a long time due to systematic reasons (eg stigma, percieved unimportance etc). Only by being more open and curious can we be open to discovering these problems.

The process of asking questions in a meeting for example, is not merely for the benefit of the askers, but for the benefit of all, for the others might not be aware that such a question can or needs to be asked.


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## NullPointerException (Apr 5, 2012)

Snow Leopard said:


> Can you elaborate on this?


The Internet is a good example. Before the Internet, finding simple data, like what's the distance between the Earth and the Sun, would require searching through books or locating a science teacher. Google, Wolfram Alpha, Wikipedia, etc are all tools built on top of the Internet to make search simpler. MIT opencourseware, Khan's academy, Stanford AI/ML online classes, etc provide a way to learn fundamentals at your own pace instead of the classroom's pace. Citeseer is used for browsing research papers to understand advanced topics beyond the fundamentals. The list of useful tools for satisfying curiosity just keeps on growing.

We've reached the point where it's not really about what you know, but how can you quickly find the answer when needed. That is, unless you get to participate in the game show Jeopardy or something, but even then, AIs can now beat the best of the contestents.


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## Wraith (Nov 30, 2010)

Perhaps because curiosity is naturally linked to learning, which has long since been rendered indistinguishable from 'that boring stuff I'm forced to learn at school.' People love learning; our brains are wired that way. It's just that what we enjoy learning is often not considered 'knowledge' because society doesn't value it. If someone is crazy about the history of tennis, are they not learning because it's not considered 'valuable'? Or, if what we do enjoy is taught in school (such as science), people can become annoyed when their favourite subject is made mandatory. I love English class, but there's something about _having_ to learn it that bothers me. Takes the fun out of it.

Just a thought, though. 

(Typical INTP ending sentence; not sure about much. :tongue


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