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Ask HN: What does it means to be more curious?

by Shugarl on 10/16/22, 7:41 AM with 4 comments

"Be more curious" is one of the most common piece of advice given in engineering.

But what does that actually means ? Curiosity is tied to an emotion. I don't have a problem learning things I'm genuinely interested in, because I won't struggle to dig in those things, I won't stop for as long as I feel that my understanding is wrong/incomplete, and once my curiosity is satisfied, I'll feel something satisfying which'll make it easy for my brain to remember what I've learned.

It's a process deeply tied with our emotions, which is I don't understand why people usually recommend to just "Ask (yourself) more questions" about a thing, or to "Try to be interested" into something, "Train yourself to be more curious" or other similar advices.

I can ask myself 1000 questions about fashion in the middle ages, but I'd likely forget 99% of what I've learned, because ultimately, I couldn't care less about this topic, and faking an interest in that wouldn't make me feel things.

There also doesn't seem to be a correlation between how curious someone think they are, and how curious they actually are.

So those of HN who genuinely "hacked" their curiosity, how did you do it ? How to be curious about the things I wish I was interested in ?

  • by inphovore on 10/16/22, 8:17 AM

    Fool around with things.

    What’s that do? How’s that work?

    When we get older, and accustomed to things, we start to take them for granted.

    When we’re told what something is and what it does or learn about them in a formal purposeful way we stop wondering about them, accepting what we know as some sort of “established dogma.”

    This “familiarity” is often a self deception. We miss things. Things go unnoticed…

    This is why newcomers/outsiders often make great discoveries. They don’t have their blinders fixed by routine or expectations.

    > Curiosity is tied to an emotion.

    I’m not sure I agree. Emotions are a form of personal confusion. Curiosity is intellectual. More tied to unemotional ignorance and lack of rigidity towards formal expectations.

  • by vmoore on 10/16/22, 2:51 PM

    Well, the more you fuck around, the more you find out. All the best hackers are naturally curious. But aside from curiosity, there is also a more subtle thing called 'noticing'. You need to develop the art of noticing anomalies, and stop recognizing patterns. Spot the things that 'stand out'.