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Are you talking about cave people, or fellow human beings? Curiosity and wonder are the motivation for understanding, even among researchers. Or do you believ

Are you talking about cave people, or fellow human beings? Curiosity and wonder are the motivation for understanding, even among researchers. Or do you believe that researchers do their work for a PhD and for the compensation? Not sure why you mention anger. I picture an angry plumber ripping up an issue of Popular Science while sitting in a La-Z-Boy and drinking a Rolling Rock.

shawnz 9y ago
> Curiosity and wonder are the motivation for understanding, even among researchers. Right, and the layperson is just interested in those first two things, whereas the researcher follows through to the point of understanding. Or maybe they don't. Someone who does research is not necessarily interested in understanding every single field either.
pharrington 9y ago
The cave man was exactly as human as you. Nowhere does his post condemn the satisfying of emotional needs. In fact, given that emotions are primary action catalysts, his post asserts Quanta is doing very important cultural work.
- totalZero 9y ago
  This is such a bizarre way to totally miss the point. Let me respond to the left turn you just took. There are genetic and social differences between our prehistoric ancestors and modern humans. Where exactly we draw the line of who is a "caveman" and who is not, is ancillary to the point: You're evaluating the statement, a "then" statement, without considering the antecedents from its parent comment. He uses "laypeople" to describe a group of people who are not truly interested, who are not seeking understanding, and who use pop-sci literature to abate basal emotions like anger. > In fact, given that emotions are primary action catalysts, his post asserts Quanta is doing very important cultural work. By that logic, every magazine for people who are not truly interested and don't seek understanding is potentially culturally important if it can connect with emotions. I don't buy it.
  - pharrington 9y ago
    Cave people is such a nebulous term that I probably shouldn't have responded to that part of your post :\ He says the layperson isn't seeking understanding, yes. To conflate that, and curiosity, wonder, and anger, with being -not truly interested-, baffles me. Maybe you disagree that interest manifests in ways besides seeking understanding?
    - jakubp 9y ago
      Thanks for clarification, it was precisely my point: layman won't understand true detail but they won't care, because the sense of interest in those articles comes from other 'rewards' (more emotional).

shawnz 9y ago

> Curiosity and wonder are the motivation for understanding, even among researchers. Right, and the layperson is just interested in those first two things, whereas the researcher follows through to the point of understanding. Or maybe they don't. Someone who does research is not necessarily interested in understanding every single field either.

pharrington 9y ago

The cave man was exactly as human as you. Nowhere does his post condemn the satisfying of emotional needs. In fact, given that emotions are primary action catalysts, his post asserts Quanta is doing very important cultural work.

totalZero 9y ago
This is such a bizarre way to totally miss the point. Let me respond to the left turn you just took. There are genetic and social differences between our prehistoric ancestors and modern humans. Where exactly we draw the line of who is a "caveman" and who is not, is ancillary to the point: You're evaluating the statement, a "then" statement, without considering the antecedents from its parent comment. He uses "laypeople" to describe a group of people who are not truly interested, who are not seeking understanding, and who use pop-sci literature to abate basal emotions like anger. > In fact, given that emotions are primary action catalysts, his post asserts Quanta is doing very important cultural work. By that logic, every magazine for people who are not truly interested and don't seek understanding is potentially culturally important if it can connect with emotions. I don't buy it.
- pharrington 9y ago
  Cave people is such a nebulous term that I probably shouldn't have responded to that part of your post :\ He says the layperson isn't seeking understanding, yes. To conflate that, and curiosity, wonder, and anger, with being -not truly interested-, baffles me. Maybe you disagree that interest manifests in ways besides seeking understanding?
  - jakubp 9y ago
    Thanks for clarification, it was precisely my point: layman won't understand true detail but they won't care, because the sense of interest in those articles comes from other 'rewards' (more emotional).