The Curiosity Dilemma

We live in a world of ever-increasing complexity, or perhaps more appropriately stated, a world whose inherent complexity incrementally reveals itself to us with time. Except this process seems to be exponential in nature, so a side effect is that it's getting harder and harder for an individual to understand the full scope of anything as both the breadth and depth of information is exploding. This applies to just about any endeavor or technology you can think of. I'm sure there have been periods in human history where mankind has either halted to reversed course in accumulating more know-how and knowledge, but I can't really think of any (okay, maybe the last ice age might be an exception).

For the naturally curious individual, this poses a big dilemma. With so much information and choices on what ideas to pursue or learn about, it's hard to settle down and focus on one thing, much less gain a mastery of a given field unless you stumble upon a relatively static area and devote your entire mental faculties toward it.

It kind of goes like this - you get interested in a certain topic, and as you gain more insight into it, you get sucked into other branches or levels of the topic. These sub-topics then branch off into other areas, and before you know it, you're off into the weeds. You constantly find yourself at these "forks in the road", and each small decision can lead you down a new path that changes your knowledge and potentially life journey. With too much going on in your head or on your plate (say if you're involved in multiple projects), you're often making little progress toward any tangible goals.

To focus or not to focus?

By allowing yourself to delve down these various forks in the road, you may be setting yourself up for longer-term success by diversifying your interests and making more mental connections between things, but there are no guarantees here. Some people might become quite insightful and gain wisdom, but might fail to visibly apply those traits to the any concerted effort. This may lead one down the path to becoming a monk, guru, or Jeopardy winner, whose detachment from the 'real world' gives them endless happiness (wait, isn't that somewhat of a good thing?), but as a result don't appear to impact the world much aside from perhaps not being destructive (wait, wouldn't that change the world for the better if more people were like that?).

On the other hand, your constant curiosity toward things may eventually lead to a key insight whose impact could shadow a lifetime of smaller achievements. Makes me wonder if many of the world's major discoveries were achieved this way, or whether they're achieved through a more focused and tenacious approach. I think in reality, a curious mind combined with the ability to chip away at a goal provides for a deadly combination. It's rare to find such people, as I see that most people either give up on learning or just bury themselves in books and reading without any really effort toward connecting the dots. Apparently Einstein ruminated about the theory of relativity based on non-mathematical observances, and only set out to mathematically prove it once he was convinced of the integrity of his thought experiments.

Perhaps that's the key - give things a generous amount of thought and consideration, and only put the pedal to the metal after you fully convince yourself that it's the right thing to do. In this sense, let your curiosity run wild, but don't do so haphazardly. Connect the dots, and let them form a unique and hopefully truthful picture of the world around you.