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A friend recounted a conversation where he was talking to one of his friends, saying he couldn't understand how these people could be so dumb. (I don't recall w

by gpsx 7y ago

A friend recounted a conversation where he was talking to one of his friends, saying he couldn't understand how these people could be so dumb. (I don't recall what "these" refers to...) His friend said, "I don't think it's that they're dumb. They just aren't curious." That was an enlightened comment. I think that is one of the elements that is needed to do brilliant things, just as Csonger says he was interested in understanding why this was "not possible".

zxcmx 7y ago
Not even “not curious”, but often just “not curious about that thing, right now”. Heck, most people understand very little about the myriad of everyday systems that keep them alive. Forget engines, computers or say, type theory. Most literally don’t know where their water comes from (to any level deeper than “it comes in a pipe”) or where their poo goes - and collectively that’s ok because the benefit of society is that this stuff gets taken care of for us. I think looking up now and then, scratching the surface of our own ignorance, can help specialists build empathy when communicating with others outside their field.
- mrkstu 7y ago
  There is a cost to curiosity. Lack of focus. I had a real challenge in my career- I continuously ranged far afield in learning well beyond the direct subject areas of my network engineering career. That often took away time I 'should' have spent directly researching problem areas applicable to my day job. It finally led me to separating with a company I had been with for 8 years and had a lot of close relationships with. But what it did was put me on a path to actually use that store of knowledge. Now I'm a Network/Enterprise Architect and a key cog for my current CTO. I wasn't being used optimally previously but I also didn't make sure I was in the correct position that those skills/tendencies could be recognized and not be a hindrance. So much in life is in the framing of things- control that story, and your success is much more likely.
- gpsx 7y ago
  That's a good point about specialists building empathy. One of my college physics professors complained about how dumb the ROTC people were - but a lot of them are humanities majors forced to take physics, which they couldn't care less about. Meanwhile, my political science professor was berating the science and engineering majors because all they would do is memorize and not learn concepts. That was on the day I scored higher on my physics test than my government test, and the physics test was out of 50 and the government test was out of 100.

by gpsx 7y ago

zxcmx 7y ago

Not even “not curious”, but often just “not curious about that thing, right now”. Heck, most people understand very little about the myriad of everyday systems that keep them alive. Forget engines, computers or say, type theory. Most literally don’t know where their water comes from (to any level deeper than “it comes in a pipe”) or where their poo goes - and collectively that’s ok because the benefit of society is that this stuff gets taken care of for us. I think looking up now and then, scratching the surface of our own ignorance, can help specialists build empathy when communicating with others outside their field.

mrkstu 7y ago
There is a cost to curiosity. Lack of focus. I had a real challenge in my career- I continuously ranged far afield in learning well beyond the direct subject areas of my network engineering career. That often took away time I 'should' have spent directly researching problem areas applicable to my day job. It finally led me to separating with a company I had been with for 8 years and had a lot of close relationships with. But what it did was put me on a path to actually use that store of knowledge. Now I'm a Network/Enterprise Architect and a key cog for my current CTO. I wasn't being used optimally previously but I also didn't make sure I was in the correct position that those skills/tendencies could be recognized and not be a hindrance. So much in life is in the framing of things- control that story, and your success is much more likely.
gpsx 7y ago
That's a good point about specialists building empathy. One of my college physics professors complained about how dumb the ROTC people were - but a lot of them are humanities majors forced to take physics, which they couldn't care less about. Meanwhile, my political science professor was berating the science and engineering majors because all they would do is memorize and not learn concepts. That was on the day I scored higher on my physics test than my government test, and the physics test was out of 50 and the government test was out of 100.