Ian Leslie on Why We Must Continue to Learn and be Curious

Watch author Ian Leslie as he asks what feeds curiosity and what starves it. Revealing that curiosity is not a gift, but a habit that parents, schools, workplaces and individuals need to nurture if it is to thrive.

[fatimalaouadi]

I wish all "Before they were famous" episods produced by Ian Leslie on BBC 4 were available on You Tube. Especially the one with the american producer 's letter to Samuel Beckett.

[xitzprofessor]

This is one of the best lectures I've ever seen

[MrNickmi]

If you liked this talk, you are going to LOVE the book. In particular, chapters 3 and 4 are really good. Chapter 7 is brilliant! Another great thing about the book is the recommendations for further reading in the Notes at the end. I particularly recommend 'Why don't Students Like School' (by D. Willingham') along with 'Make it Stick' (by Brown, Roediger & Mc Daniel).

[holleey]

"facts do not kill creativity and curiosity, since the more you know, the more you wan to know." 
i hope most viewers detect this to be a fallacy.

there's a very significant difference between knowing something as in "that's an interesting piece of information. i estimate the likelihood for it to be the case quite high." or knowing something as in "that's the one correct piece of information. it's a fact, therefore every alternative must be wrong."

if a parent or teacher presents a child with a new piece information in the form of a hard fact, the information becomes a believe which the child won't be able to question. this restricts not just the number of questions the child can come up with, but also the number of possible patterns the child's brain can find, which in turn diminishes creativity and curiosity.

"the more you know, the more you wan to know."
i agree that this is the case, but only if information is approached with a mindset i call "open-minded scepticism", which is being open-minded and sceptic equally. such a mind knows probabilities, but no facts.

[LateBlt]

If you stopped watching this video a few minutes in because you disagree with the guy's ideas about education, I have a funny feeling that you might be proving one of his points.

To give some specific criticism to this video, though: First of all, with regard to those first few minutes about the supposed link between academia and curiosity, a core flaw of the presentation seems to be the assumption that only academic subjects are those worth pursuing with one's curiosity. The most important ideas that are yet to be discovered aren't the ideas that you're going to be taught in a university, because universities can only teach you what humanity already knows. Nothing you hear in a classroom is going to be a breakthrough, because it'll already be written in a textbook somewhere. The most interesting ideas, the ones which are most likely to change how the world works, are the ones which are not being taught anywhere, because they fall outside the scope of formal academic education.

Also, the claim is made that since "the more you know, the more you want to know, " therefore forcing facts onto students will make them curious and want to learn more. This sounds like a cute theory, but ample human experience speaks quite directly against it. If people willingly search out information, the things they learn can sustain their curiosity, but forcing information into people's heads shuts down their curiosity and prevents them from wanting to learn more. The perception that forcing people to study something will make them curious is an actively dangerous idea.

[TheVirtualban]

I wish demand and supply would offer less commercialized art of headlines, and more efficient reading, though this will easily fall into bias. For the rest, curiously inclined people will seek more of it, and lazy people will not bother, and I am fine with it as I see it as another form of evolutionary filter.
Ideally education should be available to all curious people, and not use money as another evolutionary filter. Because who is to say that the cure for cancer is not locked inside the head of someone who cannot afford education.

[azza]

Wtf is this guy on about? Highly curious people are in decline. Except media outlets that provide vast amounts of info on multiple topics in a huge array of topics are growing faster than ever.