I think they go hand-in-hand. You have to have some imagination about how something must work (however off-base) to be curious enough to find out how it really works. It often seems to me that people who aren't curious lack it because they can't even imagine something different than what is in front of them.
They don't wonder how a car works because they can't even begin to deduce how it might work, from the observable outside in, because they lack the imagination to make those deductions. Someone who's curious might see a car and think, "How does this work? I can see the wheels spin and propel it forward, but something must be making those wheels turn. How do they all spin at the same time? What turns the push of the pedal into making the wheels turn?" etc.
I see curiosity and imagination as two sides of the same personality trait expressed in different ways.
In my experience there is a large class of people who lack basic curiosity about how things work. They are content to believe that things just "exist". I haven't done much research into this, but I would be interested in seeing if this is considered more an education problem, or if some people simply don't have the capacity for curiosity.
I don't think the underlying instinct here is curiosity, but rather the need for some coherence and the bias towards both having things match our preconceived models of reality, and fit our models to reality. Even though very often there just isn't solid information to make that coherence happen without just making up stuff to fit the gaps.
> I see curiosity and imagination as two sides of the same personality trait expressed in different ways.
That's because the world of today is both complex and complicated. Imagination is needed to decipher things and curiosity to get you the urge to find out more. I would argue that it's two different traits both selected by evolution. Let's imagine a tribe on savannah where some are smart enough to imagine lions hiding behind a hill and not sufficiently curious to find out by just going there, it's great to imagine throwing rocks to scare potential predators away. So you need both, they're complementary and might not even have to be expressed in the same individual but beneficial if they do.
A good friend of mine is infinitely curious. Whenever he comes around he always finds something that he doesn't quite know how works, or that is broken in an unexpected way. And he never stops before he has learnt how it works, or fixed it.
Since he now has roughly 38 years of experience (his age...) in finding out how things work and how to fix them he is almost unimaginably good at it.
For this reason he is the greatest hacker I have ever come across.
So yes: Imagination and curiosity are more important than intellect.
I don't think there is any conflict between skepticism and curiosity. I'm sure most of us have been curious and skeptical of something at the same time. I find that skepticism compliments curiosity, since unbridled enthusiasm can easily corrupt my perception of reality while my desire to perceive reality is derived from my innate curiosity. I aim to never stop learning, and to always remain skeptical. Failing the later, I will fail the former.
Right! Curiosity could very well be about optimising the structure of one's existing knowledge rather than finding out new things per se. A distinctly non-random process.
Do you know if there is a non-self-reported 'trait curiosity' factor? I.e., regardless of how curious they say they are, are some people just curious about more things than others? And if so, does that correlate with intelligence? That would match my intuition.
I’m surprised I had to scroll so far to find this response.
It was a revelation to me when I realized that, no, it’s not that “most people” lack intellectual curiosity. Their interests are just different than mine.
They don't wonder how a car works because they can't even begin to deduce how it might work, from the observable outside in, because they lack the imagination to make those deductions. Someone who's curious might see a car and think, "How does this work? I can see the wheels spin and propel it forward, but something must be making those wheels turn. How do they all spin at the same time? What turns the push of the pedal into making the wheels turn?" etc.
I see curiosity and imagination as two sides of the same personality trait expressed in different ways.
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