Is learning worthwhile for its own sake?
Hank calls curiosity perhaps the finest human quality (2013) and says in 2025 that a day he learns something new is a good day. John finds the pleasure of being human in learning together (2012) and in 2022 calls the urge to know kind of the human superpower.
Axis: yes, curiosity is its own reward ... learning is only worth its uses
Concept: curiosity
Positions by date: 18 records in 18 videos. The position did not change in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-08-07 | first on record | John: learning makes things like the Curiosity landing more moving, and the pleasure of being human is being stupid but learning to be less stupid together. | An Open Letter to Students Returning to School 00:02:27 |
| 2012-08-21 | restate | John: education's main gift was perspective and context; college is about becoming a better, more informed observer of the universe. | Is College Worth It? 00:03:22 |
| 2018-04-24 | restate | The podcast reminded John that sustained, careful attention to almost anything can be tremendously rewarding, so he tries it with the red-eyed tree frog. | This Video is about Red Eyed Tree Frogs? 00:00:37 |
| 2019-03-05 | restate | John says one of the great pleasures of research for him is being consumed by it; he loves the feeling of being lost in a world of research. | Way, Way Down the Rabbit Hole 00:00:29 |
| 2019-11-12 | restate | John says this is why he still likes learning, even at his jokingly "extremely advanced age": new learning can reshape old learning, and learning is a way of seeing connection. | still learning 00:03:24 |
| 2020-08-11 | restate | Making the list, John realises documentaries, reading in community and practicing the Rubik's Cube are all ways of learning and listening, where he now finds meaning and comfort. | never get bored 00:03:33 |
| 2022-07-19 | restate | We don't need to know why zinc exists for Hot Wheels to be fun or to survive, but we still want to know; John thinks this urge to know is kind of the human superpower. | Why Do Things Exist? 00:00:35 |
| 2023-01-31 | restate | John explores these questions in his free time for fun, which would have been hard to explain to his 19-year-old self. | I'm Going Back to College? 00:01:27 |
| 2023-05-09 | restate | John says it is valuable to learn about leaves and to study the stars, even though that knowledge won't last forever, because nothing does. | on hope 00:00:55 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-10-18 | first on record | Hank argues curiosity may be the finest human quality and that more people wanting to know for knowing's sake is a good path for the world. | Curiosity is the Greatest Human Quality 00:02:16 |
| 2013-12-27 | restate | Hank says any curiosity is good curiosity and that expecting everyone to know everything is the real idiocy. | The Kidney That Was In 3 People - And Other Amazing Science Things video description |
| 2018-06-08 | restate | As a 'science dude', Hank believes in the intrinsic goodness of understanding the world more accurately today than yesterday, individually and as a species. | Intentionally Ignorant: Does Free Will Exist? 00:02:56 |
| 2020-07-24 | restate | To lift his head in dark days, Hank makes things with people he loves, looks at birds and follows his curiosity: finding things out is one of the few joys independent of the world. | Could I Spare some Change for Gas? 00:02:47 |
| 2020-09-04 | restate | Hank says the Pythagorean theorem is useful to people, though not to him, but that is not why it is interesting: it is interesting because it is interesting. | Go Play! 00:02:03 |
| 2021-10-29 | restate | Hank says these unknowns are knowable, and though it makes no philosophical sense, making them known, about avocados and megafauna or giant crystal caves, seems a very good use of time. | The Earth is an Alien Planet 00:03:37 |
| 2025-06-06 | restate | Besides luck, Hank attributes his success to never believing there is a better use of his time than learning something new; a day he learns something is a good day. | The Secret Inside my MIT Commencement Speech 00:11:58 |
| 2025-06-20 | restate | Hank says most people who learn to make videos, like most who learn guitar, do not go professional, but learning still feels good and much is earned along the way. | 'Influencer' Must Die. 00:03:01 |
| 2025-11-21 | restate | Hank says curiosity makes everything feel more alive, uncertainty and problems less scary, and other people and himself more interesting. | I Wasn't Always Like This!! 00:03:10 |