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> The person who grows up being intellectually curious will have a big heads up in the job market since they will have acquired more information than the other

by law 15y ago

> The person who grows up being intellectually curious will have a big heads up in the job market since they will have acquired more information than the other applicants. I unfortunately do not agree with you. Despite how much it kills me to admit this, intellectual curiosity (at least in the legal world) is more of a cancer... you don't want people who will bury themselves learning as much as they can about a topic. This mindset is discordant with the concept of deadlines, because it's almost impossible to estimate the duration of something that is by definition factorial in complexity. As such, employers in fields so heavily dictated by deadlines are not looking for people who thrive on learning...they're looking for people who thrive on completing the task that they're assigned--even if it means suppressing their intrinsic desire to learn in favor of an extrinsic motivator: $$$.

GiraffeNecktie 15y ago
Being intellectually curious does not, in any way, mean you are incapable of following directions to complete a task. And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone.
- hugh3 15y ago
  And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone. Or it might mean that you think you've figured out that task X is a waste of time, but in fact since you're merely curious and not omniscient you might have missed the point of task X entirely. "Why do we need shoes anyway, man?"
  - GiraffeNecktie 15y ago
    Oddly enough, people are starting to question the whole shoes thing; apparently with good results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running
deleted 15y ago
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_delirium 15y ago
I mostly agree with this; I think a reasonable degree of intellectual curiosity is necessary to do well, but that the most successful range is "a moderate amount". Read some, but not too much, and get quite skilled at some in-demand skill, while staying flexible enough to adapt it and pick up related skills. Having too much intellectual curiosity can reduce focus (harder to be content with a fairly limited job, even if well-paying), can cause angst if you do too much digging-into-foundations (i.e. don't just excel within the parameters of your task, but try to understand why it exists or is set up the way it is in the first place), etc. Not that that means intellectual curiosity is bad, I'm just not sure it's income-maximizing or good-employee-maximizing, at least in the normal case.
- law 15y ago
  Yeah, I'm not at all arguing that intellectual curiosity is bad, just that it's not always right, where what's "right" is parameterized on the inputs: your task, the expected output, the deadline, etc.
yxhuvud 15y ago
People thriving in learning is still an amazing resource to have around if the company manage to steer that learning into how their business works. I believe the usefulness isn't about if there is a lot of deadlines or not, but if the field of business is complex and rewarding intellectually.

by law 15y ago

GiraffeNecktie 15y ago

Being intellectually curious does not, in any way, mean you are incapable of following directions to complete a task. And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone.

hugh3 15y ago
And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone. Or it might mean that you think you've figured out that task X is a waste of time, but in fact since you're merely curious and not omniscient you might have missed the point of task X entirely. "Why do we need shoes anyway, man?"
- GiraffeNecktie 15y ago
  Oddly enough, people are starting to question the whole shoes thing; apparently with good results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

_delirium 15y ago

I mostly agree with this; I think a reasonable degree of intellectual curiosity is necessary to do well, but that the most successful range is "a moderate amount". Read some, but not too much, and get quite skilled at some in-demand skill, while staying flexible enough to adapt it and pick up related skills. Having too much intellectual curiosity can reduce focus (harder to be content with a fairly limited job, even if well-paying), can cause angst if you do too much digging-into-foundations (i.e. don't just excel within the parameters of your task, but try to understand why it exists or is set up the way it is in the first place), etc. Not that that means intellectual curiosity is bad, I'm just not sure it's income-maximizing or good-employee-maximizing, at least in the normal case.

law 15y ago
Yeah, I'm not at all arguing that intellectual curiosity is bad, just that it's not always right, where what's "right" is parameterized on the inputs: your task, the expected output, the deadline, etc.

yxhuvud 15y ago

People thriving in learning is still an amazing resource to have around if the company manage to steer that learning into how their business works. I believe the usefulness isn't about if there is a lot of deadlines or not, but if the field of business is complex and rewarding intellectually.