Living to learn

We are living in a peculiar time - never before have people had the ability to communicate with others as quickly or as frequently as we can now, and this has resulted in a global population that is arguably the most diverse ever in terms of individual knowledge, personal beliefs, and the amount/type of information at our fingertips. The main reason for this revolution is the Internet, one of mankind's crowning achievements (though some will say it's also one of our worst - I would then argue that religion and science would fall into the "best/worst" category).

In the past, if one was inclined to learn about something, one would have to visit a library or ask someone who knew what they were talking about. Now, all you have to do is Google it or Wikipedia it, and you have your information. Whether it's correct/incorrect is another matter; the sheer speed it now takes to research any number of topics is almost mind-boggling. I feel it almost robs humanity of one of its greatest assets: curiosity.

Now, let me explain what I mean: of course, people are still curious (I said so myself earlier, when you want to know something you can usually find out about it online). However, I believe our level of curiosity has diminished. Our sense of wonder about things unknown is brief, when all it takes is a few minutes to "discover" something. I remember being young and wondering how the hell those lightning bugs glowed like that (which in turn makes me remember that Calvin & Hobbes comic where Calvin sees a lightning bug, and then tries to make his own butt glow) - was is magic? Maybe some mad scientist had put tiny light bulbs in all those insects? A wandering mind produces fanciful ideas.

Kids today merely have to search "Why do lightning bugs glow?" to discover that "the secret is nitric oxide...in a complex arrangement between nerve cells, light-producing cells, and an enzyme-assisted reaction, the lightning bug's lantern emits that greenish glow" 

Boring, ain't it? (I apologize to those that may find this interesting, but I'm guessing the general population doesn't).


Now this is pure speculation, but it's my feeling that children are growing up way too fast in today's society. That child-like sense of wonder and amazement is being lost at an earlier and earlier age, which will result in adults that are apathetic and essentially sheep. The livestock that composes the general public may cry out to the world when their governments start to clench it's fist around their rights and privacy's, but by then it will be too late.

We expect a just world; we just expect someone else to give it to us. And I trace that statement back to the fact that life's questions have become too easy for most of us - we no longer need to bust our mind's ass in order to learn something, when the answer is a few keystrokes away.

[post composed while listening to "So Bad" - Eminem]