Curiosity......
Mahendra "Speedy" Gonsalkorale
There are many definitions of curiosity.
The urge you feel to know more about something or
someone.
The desire to learn or know about anything.
Curiosity is associated with a strong desire to know about
things, from how a machine works to why people fall ill, from why there are
storms to how we make decisions on probability.
And there are many aphorisms associated with curiosity. To cite
a few.
"Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning": William
Arthur Ward, an American author, said this in the 1800s.
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious”: Albert
Einstein.
“Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. What people call
intelligence boils down to curiosity.” Aaron Swartz. American computer
programmer associated with the website Reddit.
“If you can let go of passion and follow your curiosity,
your curiosity just might lead you to your passion.” Elizabeth Gilbert. American
Journalist and Author.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity
has its own reason for existing.”: Albert Einstein
Curiosity leads to asking questions and seeking answers through reading and other information-seeking methods, leading to understanding and wisdom (rather than mere knowledge accumulation).
I remember very fondly one of my teachers at Royal College, Mr Arulanandan, who repeatedly said, “Always ask the question - why?” At home, I drove my mother insane by repeatedly asking her why. In desperation, she used to say, “Because I say so!”
Looking back on my days as a medical student in Colombo, I had this persistent desire to ask the question, "Why?" When you study
a subject, you need more than simply reading the text to give you a critical appraisal of
the subject, and that is why I love books that pose questions at the end of each
chapter that you need to answer before you move on to the next one.
When dealing with a patient with a problem, I was intensely curious to discover why he had those particular symptoms and try to explain them. Without curiosity, I doubt whether I would have acquired helpful knowledge. Neurology was especially appealing in commencing a path with a question followed by a step-by-step dissection of the problem, leading to what more data is needed and, finally, an answer. This, of course, applies to any branch of medicine.
Doctors accumulate a vast amount of data. This data has to be connected and relevant if they want to turn knowledge into wisdom. Curiosity helps in this process, and we develop internal classifications and connections that organise data and help us retrieve it productively.
Some of our teachers who encouraged us to be curious were
Dr Wickrema Wijenaike, Dr Carlo Fonseka,
Dr Oliver Pieris, Dr Lester Jayawardena, Dr George Ratnavale and many more.
Curiosity makes learning fun! Food tastes so much better if you are hungry!
In human history, if our forefathers had not been curious, I doubt whether we would have achieved so much.
I hope I have said enough to provoke responses from the Blog's readers. Let us have a healthy discussion. I don’t believe that “curiosity
killed the cat”!
I am just curious!
As I look back something that amazes me no end is the way my children and their children learn and acquire knowledge. As Mahendra has so beautifully illustrated with words, curiosity is a common trait we all possess that helps us to learn. Some are more curious than others.
ReplyDeleteOne of my abiding memories is the curiosity I had in the chemistry lab with all the reagents and their actions and interactions.
My curiosity blossomed in the medical faculty right the way from the dissections to patient care. The mind was like a blotting paper of old.
Like every trait we have, curiosity has positive and negative effects. We are all aware of that aphorism “curiosity killed the cat”. Even curiosity has to be used wisely.
Thanks for your comment Nihal. As you righty say, all of us are curious by Nature. I think it is an evolutionary trait essential for survival in a hostile world. When I look at sad photos and video clips of the horrible wars that are going on at the moment, I cannot help but look in wonderment how kids caught in it are kept "happy" by their curious nature as they pick up potentially dangerous material for closer inspection. Yes, curiosity just like so many human traits can serve or destroy.
ReplyDeleteComing tothe phrase curiosity killed the cat", this was not as I imagined, a cat playing with a dangerous incendiary device! Here is what Google (with AI) says:- The idiom “curiosity killed the cat” originated from the phrase “care killed the cat,” which was used in the 1598 play Every Man in His Humour by Ben Jonson:
Every Man in His Humour: “Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care 'll kill a cat, up-tails all, and a louse for the hangman”
The word “care” in Jonson's time was used to mean “nosiness” or “sorrow”. The phrase was used to convey that negative emotions like worry and sorrow can cause stress that damages the body and mind.
The phrase “curiosity killed the cat” is used to warn people against trying to find out about something that doesn't concern them. It's often used when someone continues to ask prying questions
I hope many others will respond with their views and experience with curiosity- I really am curious!
FROM PROF MAHESH NIRMALAN, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Mahendra. Agree that curiosity should be at the heart of learning. However, unfortunately, the current emphasis on evidence based medicine and protocol driven medicine seems to discourage this somewhat. People are being trained to follow a set of protocols or algorithms in response to a collection of signs/symptoms rather than ask why...."the trials say so" or "we follow the protocol" are the usual rationale used"
Thanks Nirmalan. This trend in my view is unfortunate. But I feel that medical educators can play a role in providing a balanced view. Algorithms and protocols have a place and we should enourage our students to be curious about the basis of these and ask questions about them.
ReplyDelete