Most animals are curious about their world, but humans are the only animals who have the ability to be curious about things they have never seen or experienced themselves. Our insatiable curiosity has led to incredible inventions that we take so for granted now, like books, television, the internet, all of which allow our curiosity to expand way beyond the confines of our actual experiences.
We alone among all living creatures have the ability to explore the past. We can learn about things that happened eons ago, because we have developed the curiosity to explore the cause of things that do not immediately affect us. Admittedly, that curiosity stemmed from things that we at first saw, but what distinguishes us from other creatures is that we extend our curiosity to investigate where the things we see come from and what impact those things have on us and our understanding of our world. There have of course been times in human history when we have simply accepted what we saw as reality and have not felt the need for further investigation. Two examples immediately spring to mind: the idea that the world was flat; and that the sun orbited around the earth. It took extremely brave and curious men to go against this conventional thinking and thereby change our understanding of our world. Because they did, because they were curious, we honour them today as heroes.
We are curious about our present and, again unlike other creatures on earth, we go to places and do things for the simple pleasure of it and satisfying our curiosity. In fact, we have come to partially evaluate others and ourselves by this unique human pursuit of pleasurable experiences. The number of holidays we have had, the countries we have visited, the books we have read, or the movies we have seen, all tell people how much time, and money, we have for pleasure and therefore lend us a certain status. We have also come to judge this pursuit of pleasure as a thing of great interest and therefore well-pleasured people are invariably regarded as interesting and knowledgeable. Curiosity is the parent of interest and knowledge.
Curiosity about our past and present has predictably led to curiosity about our future. This is not a uniquely human trait, but where we differ from other creatures that share this ability with us is that our curiosity is not limited to future meals. We are curious, for example, about what will happen on and to our world after we are no longer here, so that when other look into our past and present, as we have done with preceding generations, they will see us as heroes too. We want to leave an honourable legacy and that feeds our curiosity about the future.
I am curious about all sorts of seemingly useless things, facts that I know and may never have the opportunity to share with someone else, but it is enough for me to know that I am a curious being. I find a ridiculous satisfaction in that.
24 February 2005
Dion Marc Delport