Rediscovering Lost Curiosity#
A few days ago, I read two articles about curiosity - "If time trims our curiosity as we grow up, should we blame time?" and "Rethinking Curiosity: A Self-help Guide to Learning Motivation". In this issue of the newsletter, I will discuss "curiosity" based on these two articles.
First, let's introduce the core content of these two articles:
Regarding the formation of curiosity, the articles mention that "curiosity is the emotional drive that motivates humans to acquire knowledge." When it is stimulated, it simultaneously stimulates the caudate nucleus and then secretes dopamine, which gives us a sense of pleasure.
Curiosity is the original motivation for us to gain knowledge and summarize patterns. Unfortunately, as we grow older, our curiosity tends to decrease, and we lose interest in reading. It is like an elusive elf that disappears from our lives as we grow up.
Regarding the loss of curiosity, the articles believe that there are two reasons:
- Internal reasons: trimmed by time
- External reasons: intercepted by technology
The so-called "trimmed by time" is described in the article as "the information we receive is always biased and erroneous. People are more willing to accept information that is consistent with their own thoughts and positions (cognitive bias), gradually closing off their own cognition." In fact, after integrating into society, we selectively absorb information that fits our cognitive model, forming an information cocoon that continuously reinforces our beliefs, gradually causing us to lose curiosity. "Due to social conditioning, our curiosity is constantly trimmed; and due to busyness, our curiosity is gradually depleted."
The so-called "intercepted by technology" is illustrated in the article with an example:
The search function and algorithm of the Internet can easily help you find any information you want. You may have just entered the first letter, and the search bar will display a list of the most likely questions you want to search, or even before you start typing, the search platform has already presented the content you want. It's like Doraemon's Anywhere Door. You think about it, and the next second you arrive at your desired destination. However, the scenery along the way to the destination or the spontaneous exploration in the middle of the journey is more enjoyable and precious.
The efficiency and immediacy of the Internet intercept many opportunities for us to interact with the world, thereby intercepting our curiosity.
These two articles also discuss the classification of curiosity and pathological curiosity, which will not be further expanded in this issue. Interested readers can directly read the original articles. Here, I want to talk about "cultivating curiosity".
When I read "Leonardo da Vinci: The Biography" before, I realized how amazing da Vinci was. Originally, I only knew him as a painter, but besides that, he had remarkable achievements in music, architecture, mathematics, geometry, anatomy, physiology, zoology, botany, astronomy, meteorology, geology, geography, physics, optics, mechanics, invention, civil engineering, and other fields:
- In the field of astronomy, he speculated about the heliocentric theory of the "stationary sun," 40 years earlier than Copernicus.
- In the field of physics, he invented the hydraulic linkage device and proposed the concept of gravity 200 years before Newton.
- In the field of optics, he was the first to propose that light is a wave, just like sound, and that the speed of light is limited.
- In the field of architecture, he was a designer of bridges, churches, castles, and sewers. He also proposed the concept of separating pedestrians and vehicles.
- In the field of meteorology, he discovered the phenomenon of refraction and explained why the sky is blue.
- In the field of military, he invented helicopters, airplanes, parachutes, machine guns, hand grenades, submarines, tanks, cranes, and diving equipment. Although not all of them were built, he had already drawn all those designs, and the gearbox he made is the principle used in modern car gearboxes.
- ...and so on
When I read these, I even wondered if he was a person who traveled through time. Why could he discover and invent so many things on his own? The book provides an explanation. His notebook manuscripts contain nearly 30,000 pages. From the existing manuscripts, it can be seen that da Vinci was a particularly curious person. He seized every opportunity to consult professionals from various fields and ask them professional questions. He lived in a state of questioning and exploration every day. He left such a final note in his diary before his death: "Tomorrow, I will figure out the shape of a woodpecker's tongue."
Have any of us ever thought of similar questions? Perhaps, but as soon as we go to a search engine for answers, they immediately appear. This is a convenient era, but also an era that erodes our curiosity. Da Vinci was always interested in everything in this world, but what he enjoyed was not just the answers to questions, but the process of exploring the answers themselves. He once filled 169 pages with various attempts to draw circles as squares, and he never stopped exploring a question for years. He spent his entire life happily and wholeheartedly in a state of flow.
The last person who left such a deep impression on me was Ludwig Wittgenstein. The origin of philosophy is also curiosity about the world, and the pursuit of knowledge is the nature of all human beings. People begin to engage in philosophical thinking because of curiosity.
Whether now or in the beginning, people engage in philosophical thinking because of curiosity, starting with being curious about things around them that they don't understand, and gradually advancing to questioning more significant things, such as the changes in the moon, the changes in the sun and stars, and the generation of all things. - Aristotle
Most of the knowledge in the world may not be necessary for us to know because it has no practical use in life. And all of this is simply because of curiosity, pure curiosity.
So, how can we maintain curiosity? I have summarized three points:
- Be diligent in observation and pursue to the end.
- Extend your contact with the world.
- Expand your thinking.
Be diligent in observation and pursue to the end. This requires us to always have the wonder of a child, to keep an acute mind for observation, and to constantly ask questions. "Stay hungry, stay foolish" until our thirst for knowledge is satisfied. Why is "knowledge" called "knowledge"? It is because asking questions is more important. So what should we ask?
Extend your contact with the world. Continuously think about what everything new is? What does it bring? What does it mean? What kind of connection can it have with me? Most opportunities arise from various possibilities. Try to collide with the connections between the world and yourself, thus creating "touchpoints". So what should we do after getting the answers?
Expand your thinking. It means discovering greater space and more possibilities, constantly asking new questions based on the answers. And for these questions, seek information, update your own cognition, and obtain more "touchpoints" to connect them together, constantly expanding your cognitive network. Don't be satisfied with the scenery presented to you and stop there. Previously, it was mentioned that technology can intercept curiosity, and the convenience of searching can make us stop at a certain point. However, as long as we maintain awareness of expanding our thinking and actively seek and make use of technology, we will find that technology not only does not suppress curiosity but also gives curiosity wings, allowing us to freely navigate the ocean and forest of information, and unleash greater creativity and vitality.
In conclusion, all curiosity begins with observation. Discovering amazing things requires constantly questioning their nature and their connection to ourselves, thus colliding with possibilities. Finally, expand your thinking to discover greater space and more possibilities, like a rotating vortex that grows larger and larger, cyclically giving birth to more curiosity.
Weekly Recommendations#
Software: AltTab (macOS)#
Switching between different windows on a Mac is quite troublesome. Cmd + Tab does not provide a preview of the pages and can only switch between applications, unable to switch between different windows within the same application.
However, AltTab can perfectly solve this pain point on macOS. It can be installed using HomeBrew:
brew install alt-tab
After installation, simply hold Alt + Tab to switch between various windows in the system (including windows within the same application). It also provides real-time preview images, making it easy for users to accurately switch to their desired windows.
Software: Context (macOS)#
Contexts is a competitor to AltTab, a well-established "context" switching application.
Flutter 3.0 Release#
Flutter 3.0 was released at Google I/O on Wednesday, with the main feature being multi-platform friendliness. Starting from this version, it supports building macOS and Linux apps. It is worth considering where Electron will go from here.
Reference: What’s new in Flutter 3 | Medium
React State Management Libraries#
Finally, here are some popular React state management libraries:
