The Value of Wondering

[Gritches]

If there's one thing technology has made obsolete, it's the need to wonder. There's a search bar in the top-right corner of this here demon box that I'm typing into that contains much of humanity's knowledge. Any question I could possibly have could be answered in seconds. My phone can do the same thing, anywhere at any time (generally).

But still, I find myself wondering about things. Sometimes it's trivial information, like wondering how LeBron James and Michael Jordan stack up stats-wise. Sometimes I wonder how to do something; there's probably a WikiHow on how to do just about anything.

Yet for some reason, instead of typing my query into that search bar, I'll just sit and wonder about it. I can only come to one conclusion as to why: the act of wondering is, itself, pleasurable.

Assuming a paradigm in which humans seek pleasure and especially avoid pain, it then follows that if the wondering was causing me any sort of pain or discomfort, I would remedy it by using that search bar. Conversely, it could also be said that the act of wondering must be more pleasurable than the act of actually obtaining the information about which I am wondering.

And so, I posit the existence of recreational wondering: willful ignorance, because the thirst for knowledge is more pleasurable than actually quenching that thirst.

I'm sure this has been thought of and talked about plenty before, but it's only now occurring to me because I asked someone a question like a normal human being and they said "I don't know, Google it." But I don't want to Google it, I want to have fun trying to figure it out.

Am I speaking truth here? Do you agree with my assertion that the thirst for knowledge could be more pleasurable than the quenching thereof? Or is there maybe another reason I'm not spending all day Googling things and expanding my mind, choosing to wonder for fun instead?

Just sorta throwing my thoughts out there, because, you know, I'm just wondering...

 

[the_tortoise]

I don't know if I'd say I enjoy wondering (it can drive me nuts, actually), but I do enjoy figuring things out for myself.

I also enjoy imagining ways that things could be done -- however if I want to know right now how something is already done that is a different sort of thing and I will look it up.

In any case, I think there will always be more things to wonder....finding answers often just inspires more questions.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

the act of wondering is, itself, pleasurable.

I'm wondering if someone is wearing a fur suit.

But I don't want to Google it, I want to have fun trying to figure it out.

Do you agree with my assertion that the thirst for knowledge could be more pleasurable than the quenching thereof?

Yes,I agree.

I've also read articles about how google is changing the structure of the human brain...
'Just google it' and the way we have devices to retain information meaning the brain is used differently to the way it used to be.

One corollary is that we no longer utilise our ability to think.
You tube will have a how two etc....
And I often wonder how government use the mass media and absolute mass of information to take advantage of this trend.
In a way, losing the ability to think ,voluntarily, is like a free man voting for slavery.

Yet the trend is so relentless...

Perhaps a wondering man,who thinks,can turn the world to his advantage.

One advantage of my life is that it depends on hundreds of people doing thousands of seemingly unrelated tasks, but..
It means one man... can live a little differently than most.
But everyone cant do it...

 

[Gritches]

@Fridgemagnetman Someone, somewhere is wearing a fursuit right now, but sadly it is not me.

But damn, losing our ability to think critically, now I have some things to wonder about...

 

[the_tortoise]

One corollary is that we no longer utilise our ability to think.
You tube will have a how two etc....

I think modern schooling and media (news and social) might have more to do with any loss of critical thinking skills than easy access to instructional/educational materials.

Before the internet, how-to's could be found in books and periodicals, people would ask friends/family/neighbours how to do things (or request that those people do the things instead), or would pay someone else to do things that they lacked knowledge of/skill in.

It is possible that more people actually develop skills and think about problems they never would have developed/thought about in the past, because they have greater access to educational/instructional materials....I do agree, though, that it's not the same as figuring something out completely on your own with no exposure to anyone else's knowledge (although as technology and human knowledge continue to evolve exponentially in complexity and scope, I think it becomes harder for most individuals to actually get very far without accessing anybody else's knowledge), and the process of inquiring about things is much simpler/easier....

And of course the internet is not just instuctional/educational materials.....

And I can see how it might impair something like memory, for example, since long-term recall isn't as important if you can look something up again and again and again whenever you want, in an instant. (This actually could open doors for people who never could have remember very well in the first place but perhaps have a lot of potential once that barrier is lessened.)

But that's just my seriously uninformed opinions and I probably don't actually underestand -- I should read what knowledgeable people have written about the changes you mention before rambling on about stuff I am not informed about....

 

[Judge]

Oh I suppose people have been wondering such things since the abacus was created. Then the slide rule, and then God forbid, the calculator. But much like search engines, they're all just tools. Where some use them more effectively than others. No differently than seeking an answer or learning from things found in any library.

A tool can help one arrive at a decision, but it can't replace the decision-making process itself. In the case of search engines, they give you several avenues of approach to determine the right answer. And some of them may in fact not even be the right answer. A process that still demands a user to apply their own intellect to varying degrees to filter fact from fiction and be able to deduce the best solution or answer.

Personally I see no technology ever replacing those few intellects who are so capable of unique and profound discoveries the rest of us would never likely contemplate. If the real question is whether or not the use or reliance on such tools effectively "dulls" our executive functioning skills, I'm inclined to think no, it does not.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Personally I see no technology ever replacing those few intellects who are so capable of unique and profound discoveries the rest of us would never likely contemplate

I've done about four already today.

Can't share. No-one would understand

 

[Progster]

The internet has everything you want... and everything you don't want.

One question will lead to another... then another... then another, until you forget what you originally wanted to ask. It creates more questions than it has answers, so there will always be more things to wonder.

If nobody ever wondered and nobody had questions, there would be no progress, no evolution, but actually the opposite is happening, the pace of progress and discovery is accelerating exponentially. So rather than hinder wondering, Google facilitates it.

 

[tducey]

I still wonder about things Internet or no Internet. It's just the internet has made wondering easier as the ? are a internet search away.

 

[Chance]

Yall have me thinking about the ancient greeks and how they would view the internet of today...

I think some of them might say, " I never said that" "They twisted my words." Or wow what the Biblical people might say if they came back and read todays version of that book... Hummm it might be really interesting to see that.

I think I'm gonna go build a sundial and ponder on this a while... just kidding... : )

I wish I had time for that... I'm so behind at work I cant look at my watch and here I am stuffing my face and typing... Hey I am muktitasking...

 

[Judge]

Yall have me thinking about the ancient greeks and how they would view the internet of today...

Smart fellows those ancient Greeks.

I'm guessing they'd answer such a question today by posting a YouTube....like this.

 

[the_tortoise]

One thing I was going to say about modern-day search engines hindering critical thought is the abandonment of the boolean search and the implementation of [insert-lots-of-expletives-here] stupid, useless, awful search algorithms......but then I realized that these things actually make it harder for me, personally, to search for things -- I constantly find myself needing ways to get around the damned algorithms to actually find the information I'm looking for, which sometimes requires figuring out what the algorithms are first (because you are only allowed so many characters and they get quickly eaten up by "-"[NOT] keywords.....if the search engine actually filters them out correctly in the first place).....which is much harder for me than just doing a simple boolean search. So I guess it can go either way.

 

[WereBear]

I love getting lost in quirky sites where some is sharing cool information.

That hardly ever existed before,

 

[Gracey]

People like my daughter and her fiance have no need to remember 11 digit telephone numbers, full postal addresses, road maps and directions, or things like recipes,
They just search for it online.

In ten or fifteen years time will their brains lose the ability to retain that sort of information because they don't practice the habit and the information is so freely available at the touch of a button? They no longer need to ability to remember strings of information?

I'm addicted to the buzz of wondering.
I can sometimes get lost in my own mind and can't find my way back easily.
I like to question and wonder about things and try to find patterns or coincidences and of course, answers.
I feels like exercise for my brain.

I sometimes get bored otherwise.

 

[LucyPurrs]

Always felt there was no need to memorize info that could be easily looked up, now even more so. But why don't schools teach folks how to think, and think critically? That seems a lot more important to me than rote memorization. As for wondering, just look up at the sky at night or the miraculousness of nature : can't really google the answers to those wonderings. So please keep wondering!

 

[LucyPurrs]

If there's one thing technology has made obsolete, it's the need to wonder. There's a search bar in the top-right corner of this here demon box that I'm typing into that contains much of humanity's knowledge. Any question I could possibly have could be answered in seconds. My phone can do the same thing, anywhere at any time (generally).

But still, I find myself wondering about things. Sometimes it's trivial information, like wondering how LeBron James and Michael Jordan stack up stats-wise. Sometimes I wonder how to do something; there's probably a WikiHow on how to do just about anything.

Yet for some reason, instead of typing my query into that search bar, I'll just sit and wonder about it. I can only come to one conclusion as to why: the act of wondering is, itself, pleasurable.

Assuming a paradigm in which humans seek pleasure and especially avoid pain, it then follows that if the wondering was causing me any sort of pain or discomfort, I would remedy it by using that search bar. Conversely, it could also be said that the act of wondering must be more pleasurable than the act of actually obtaining the information about which I am wondering.

And so, I posit the existence of recreational wondering: willful ignorance, because the thirst for knowledge is more pleasurable than actually quenching that thirst.

I'm sure this has been thought of and talked about plenty before, but it's only now occurring to me because I asked someone a question like a normal human being and they said "I don't know, Google it." But I don't want to Google it, I want to have fun trying to figure it out.

Am I speaking truth here? Do you agree with my assertion that the thirst for knowledge could be more pleasurable than the quenching thereof? Or is there maybe another reason I'm not spending all day Googling things and expanding my mind, choosing to wonder for fun instead?

Just sorta throwing my thoughts out there, because, you know, I'm just wondering...

Now here is a good example of needing numbers also. I wanted to put this post as a winner x3 and there is no way to do that but I loved it.

 

[Sabrina]

If there's one thing technology has made obsolete, it's the need to wonder. There's a search bar in the top-right corner of this here demon box that I'm typing into that contains much of humanity's knowledge. Any question I could possibly have could be answered in seconds. My phone can do the same thing, anywhere at any time (generally).

But still, I find myself wondering about things. Sometimes it's trivial information, like wondering how LeBron James and Michael Jordan stack up stats-wise. Sometimes I wonder how to do something; there's probably a WikiHow on how to do just about anything.

Yet for some reason, instead of typing my query into that search bar, I'll just sit and wonder about it. I can only come to one conclusion as to why: the act of wondering is, itself, pleasurable.

Assuming a paradigm in which humans seek pleasure and especially avoid pain, it then follows that if the wondering was causing me any sort of pain or discomfort, I would remedy it by using that search bar. Conversely, it could also be said that the act of wondering must be more pleasurable than the act of actually obtaining the information about which I am wondering.

And so, I posit the existence of recreational wondering: willful ignorance, because the thirst for knowledge is more pleasurable than actually quenching that thirst.

I'm sure this has been thought of and talked about plenty before, but it's only now occurring to me because I asked someone a question like a normal human being and they said "I don't know, Google it." But I don't want to Google it, I want to have fun trying to figure it out.

Am I speaking truth here? Do you agree with my assertion that the thirst for knowledge could be more pleasurable than the quenching thereof? Or is there maybe another reason I'm not spending all day Googling things and expanding my mind, choosing to wonder for fun instead?

Just sorta throwing my thoughts out there, because, you know, I'm just wondering...

I can get to the top of a mountain, hiking, or by car.

If it takes me five hours to get there hiking, there’s a sense of accomplishment that I will never get by driving a car. But a car is, obviously, more practical.

To me, the feeling of wonder is like hiking. When you find out by yourself something, there’s a sense of accomplishment that you will never get by finding it in Google.

I don’t agree, though, that we can find anything that we want in internet. The most important things that I’ve learned in life come from my own experience.