#Epistemic curiosity

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Curiosity

The philosophy of curiosity explores the nature, origins, and implications of human curiosity, which drives individuals to seek knowledge, explore new experiences, and ask questions about the world around them. Curiosity has long been recognized as a fundamental aspect of human cognition and behavior, playing a central role in scientific inquiry, philosophical reflection, and everyday life. Here are some key aspects and theories within the philosophy of curiosity:

Epistemic Curiosity: Epistemic curiosity refers to the desire for knowledge and understanding, motivating individuals to seek information, explore new ideas, and engage in intellectual pursuits. Philosophers have debated the nature of epistemic curiosity, its origins in human cognition, and its role in shaping scientific progress and cultural development.

Aesthetic Curiosity: Aesthetic curiosity pertains to the exploration of beauty, art, and creativity, driving individuals to seek out new experiences, appreciate diverse forms of expression, and engage with works of literature, music, visual art, and other cultural artifacts. Aesthetic curiosity raises questions about the nature of artistic inspiration, cultural interpretation, and subjective experience.

Existential Curiosity: Existential curiosity concerns the exploration of existential questions about the nature of existence, meaning, and purpose, motivating individuals to reflect on their own lives, values, and beliefs. Existential curiosity encompasses inquiries into topics such as the nature of consciousness, the search for transcendence, and the quest for personal fulfillment.

Philosophical Curiosity: Philosophical curiosity involves the pursuit of philosophical inquiry, critical thinking, and self-reflection, prompting individuals to question assumptions, challenge conventional wisdom, and explore fundamental concepts such as truth, morality, justice, and reality. Philosophical curiosity underlies the practice of philosophy as a discipline and informs broader intellectual endeavors.

Ethical Curiosity: Ethical curiosity concerns the exploration of ethical questions and moral dilemmas, motivating individuals to consider the consequences of their actions, empathize with others, and strive for moral growth and development. Ethical curiosity raises questions about the nature of moral values, ethical principles, and the pursuit of the good life.

Cognitive Curiosity: Cognitive curiosity encompasses the exploration of cognitive processes, mental states, and psychological phenomena, driving individuals to understand how the mind works, how knowledge is acquired, and how beliefs are formed. Cognitive curiosity informs research in fields such as psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.

Cultural Curiosity: Cultural curiosity involves the exploration of diverse cultures, traditions, and worldviews, prompting individuals to learn about different societies, languages, and customs, and to appreciate the richness of human diversity. Cultural curiosity fosters intercultural understanding, global awareness, and cross-cultural communication.

Metacognitive Curiosity: Metacognitive curiosity pertains to the exploration of one's own cognitive processes and learning strategies, motivating individuals to reflect on their own thinking, monitor their own understanding, and adapt their learning strategies to achieve greater intellectual growth and self-improvement.

Overall, the philosophy of curiosity explores the multifaceted nature of human curiosity and its profound influence on knowledge, creativity, personal growth, and the human condition.

[hong-kong-art-man]

5 Kinds Of Curiosity That May Benefit You: Which Group Do You Belong To?

When I was a school boy, my teacher told me there were 5 words which could watch over and benefit me for the rest of my life, namely, “why”, “what”, “how”, “when” and “who”. They are all words for framing a question. “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom” and perhaps 2 questions can uncover the truth. They help us focus on the most important aspects of the thing that we are trying to know.

We ask questions for 2 reasons: helping us understand a situation and make an informed decision. Questions and their answers can also help us think more critically and empower us with knowledge and intelligence.  

Albert Einstein inspired us and said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Hotshot experts told us there are 5 benefits of getting into the right mind of curiosity. You become a better problem solver with more creative solution options. A wealth of knowledge makes you more updated and younger. You are more socially attractive because you offer interesting information during a conversation. When you know more, you are less uncertain and will have a lower level of anxiety. Finally, you will be a more able businessman to look over your shoulder in an ever-changing society. 

I am a lucky man. As a boy, I was always taken by my mother to explore the world. She brought us to visit different temples, parks, markets, cinema houses, and even government buildings. In fact, she was more curious than me. She was curious for herself, not for the approval of others. She was curious about life. Life is not one but many beautiful places. 

Commonly recognized, 5 theories on curiosity can be applied to you. “Epistemic Curiosity” is the desire to obtain new knowledge so as to stimulate intellectual interest. This is a higher level of curiosity. “Empathic Curiosity” is a desire to understand other people’s thoughts and feelings. The curiosity can help us connect more deeply with the people around us. “Social Curiosity” is the eagerness to acquire new information about what happens in a society or other new things, especially those around himself. “Diversive Curiosity” is more like an impulse. It is the fleeting desire to explore things that come along. Some like to scroll Twitter or flip through a magazine. It does not engage one in deeper exploration of a thing. When people gossip en masse about the private life of a movie star, it can be, for example, a kind of diversive curiosity. Lastly, “Sensory Curiosity” is the 5th kind. It is the desire for new sensations and thrills. Learning a new sport to experience a new lifestyle is an example of such curiosity. Which group do you belong to? 

A research suggested that the poor state of Hongkongers’ emotional health has emerged as a key factor in their low levels of vitality. Curiosity will conquer fear, and give you more wisdom and confidence to take your life to the next level of liveliness. You will feel positive again after being curious. Being nosy is not a bad thing.

Maurice Lee

Chinese Version 中文版: https://www.patreon.com/posts/xiang-gang-ren-111905301?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Song “Curiosity” https://youtube.com/watch?v=ODAjU0MS6fE&feature=shared  Acknowledgment-小蓓蕾组合-Topic

TV Program on Curiosity  https://youtu.be/eKF88Tlnack?si=8rBT3mUfqrGLT5jp  Acknowledgement-CCTV

[sophia-epistemia]

ok, alright, *fine*, I'll easily believe that the dutch who were in the wombs during the famine got epigenetic effects.

what's the effect size? on what traits? what was measured, and how? (iow how and how much did they fuck it up and what did they actually measure?) I want graphs. *detailed* graphs. actually just gimme the data. and methods. this is *interesting* and *important*.

(wd detail details but cba rn)

scientist voice: today i will be a dick to this cricket 

[leohtttbriar]

the aesthetic romanticism of this episode. the deep love for discovery. the decolonization allegory which is not so much a 1-to-1 allegory, so to speak, because sisko proving that ancient bajorans had not only the technology but the sheer Wonder and Curiosity to venture into space is a metaphor for speaking against any number of white supremacist "histories" deriving from imperialistic paradigms since the age of colonization---

to provide the counter-colonization narrative with a space-ship that sails on the impulse of photons (a very real and possible engineering for space-flight--like NASA is building ships like that) is wonderful. this story about the ancient people who thought to travel to space and push their spacecraft through space off the force of light, and then sisko proving to everyone not only its possibility but its historical fact, was sweet and interesting and full of feeling.

it's all as if to say: to engage whole-heartedly with an episteme of decolonization is to engage whole-heartedly with an episteme of curiosity and discovery and love for What Is.

[fatehbaz]

[D]eviance and mischief. [...] [F]urtive [...]. [O]ther poetically inspiring words: secretive, surreptitious, clandestine, covert, conspiratorial, oblique [...]. We must fold these small acts of love and creativity and play (and laughter and irreverence and whimsy) into other resistant projects against white supremacy [...]. In various trans-American imaginaries, the boonies are raced as nonproductive land inhabited by people who are not fully part of the Western episteme. [...] Caribbean(ist) people are familiar with el monte, the hills, or les mornes. El monte is always just around the corner, encroaching, sprouting persistently [...] amid the rubble of hurricane disasters or abandoned plantation and industrial sites. [...] The hills, like much of our hemisphere, are sites of damage containing the residual energy of violence, [...] the “places of irresolution.” [...] [T]urn over rocks and push thorny vines to the side to find wet dirt, small creatures, and, perhaps, delightful hidden treasures [...]. I open my hands so that these and other surprises "jump into [them] with all the pleasures of the unasked for and the unexpected" [...]. Remaining open to these gifts of the nonhuman natural world [...]. How much ruddier might we be against the multiheaded hydra of white supremacy as “a world of mutually-flourishing companions” [...]?

Text by: Dixa Ramirez D'Oleo. "Mushrooms and Mischief: On Questions of Blackness." Small Axe 23 (2 (2)): 152-163. July 2019.

---

Every day I wake up and rehearse the person I would like to be. […] To use the words of [...] C.L.R. James, “every cook can govern.” [...] [T]his is what happens when people consciously decide to come together and “shape change,” to think with Octavia Butler. And to move through the world with the intention of making it a better place for living creatures to inhabit. […] And most importantly, it’s an invitation to join in. And it is a reminder that liberation is not a destination but an ongoing process, a praxis. Every day, groups of parents, librarians, nurses, temp workers, ordinary people, tired of the horrors of the present, come together to decide what kind of world they want to inhabit. […] [W]e bear witness to rehearsal, study, experimentation in form, a multiplicity of formations of struggle being waged, often most strongly by people for whom freedom has been most denied. [...] “If We Must Die”: “Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!” [...] [F]or so many people, whether abandoned by the state [...] or abandoned by society in a carceral site, fighting back, by virtue of necessity as well as of ethics, is building, always building. This is the freedom work, and the love work, and the care work, of rehearsal.

Text by: Robyn Maynard. “Every Day We Must Get Up and Relearn the World: An Interview with Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.” Intefere: Journal for Critical Thought and Radical Politics Volume 2, pages 140-165. 19 November 2021.

---

The no of refusal is a mode of survival: an impenetrable boundary, silent or shouted. It is a refusal to be killed or to succumb [...]. Vast ecosystems flattened for plantations and fields, raw minerals pulled from the ground and sea for the building of nation-states [...]. Being-with requires a pause from which to imagine this otherwise, in all of its vastness and uncertainty. [...] To be-with [...] needs a disposition of attentiveness, listening, curiosity and noticing, [...] a "pedagogy of deep engagement". [...] The scale of violence [...] is immeasurable. [...] The immensity of the loss of people and ecologies to capitalist brutalities exceeds what we can comprehend. But [...] so do the myriad, and insuppressible flourishings and alliances, the joyfulness and love, the lives lived otherways. Attunement leads us to the gaps and silences and soundings that run through everything [...]. [T]hose imaginations of life [...] might rise to the surface.

Text by: AM Kanngieser. "To undo nature; on refusal as return." transmediale Almanac. 2021.

[mrhaitch]

Hello Mr. Haitch! You inadvertently recommended the Southern Reach series all the way back then… so of course, I bought the book Annihilation.

I’m only on page 61, but by page 9, I knew that this book was probably going to be my favorite for this year. The thing is, I probably would have devoured it all in one go if I didn’t stop to jot down notes and ideas every five pages. This book has already given me an existential crisis.

Can we have a book discussion?? There are just so many thought-provoking quotes. But for now I’ll only show one (from page 8):

I have quite a few thoughts about this line. First of all, this is what drives the biologist: it’s the reason why she’s in Area X and why she’s there to stay. And it also relates to her identity. There was this one line… I didn’t save it… where she admits to pretending to be a biologist. She’s simply someone in pursuit of knowledge. Or the “truth.” Some understanding of why things happen the way they do.

(The urge to connect the theme of pretending… but it should be saved for another time.)

If someone asked me why I like exploring character analysis, I’d say to learn more about the characters. But if they ask me why I want to learn more specifically, I don’t really have an answer to that. Like the book said, it’s a “self-immolating desire.” Curiosity is something that needs to be satiated.

Lastly, this quote made me wonder… does truth even exist? Is it just something that humans made up? Because everything is based on perception, with what we perceive with our senses which is where it becomes subjective. It’s the reason why the same event can have a different event from two different narratives. Like in JJK, the cycle of war between curses and humans, for example… hold on, I feel like this is an interesting opportunity to connect the idea of “truth” to Mahito. Because he’s kinda like “I know more than you, I know how things actually work” with the soul and body theory. Oh… well that’s just a tangential idea I have not developed yet, and I’d have to go back and take a closer look at his character. Anyways, I found this interesting because the “self-immolating desire” is what drives some people’s choices, decision-making, and purpose. And it brings up the question of whether in the long haul, it is a hopeless pursuit.

Ehh, I just came here today to prompt something maybe relatively interesting. You’ve already read the book, so this isn’t anything new to you of course. But I am in dire need of discussion or I might actually combust and never finish the book 🥲🥲

Curious to hear what you have to say,

formerly curious anon but not anon anymore

Amazing, people normally ignore my book recommendations as being too esoteric, and I am delighted to see someone else joining the freakish Vanderfamily.

You've hit on the core challenge the Biologist faces: she wants to be objective, to be impartial, but knows she can't be. She knows no one can be truly impartial or objective - to be sentient, to hold thoughts, feelings, opinions, to have experienced or learned anything is to see the world through a lens or a filter. We might be aware of the lens, its edges, or the way it distorts the light, but we cannot completely remove it.

To live, to exist, to be is to become a subject, an individual, a perspective.

What she's pushing against is Area X's unknowability. Its inherent alienness, its knack for altering and shifting depending on who is looking at it and how they're looking at it. It's a living, breathing manifestation of humanity's epistemic limits and it is horrifying. It is indifferent to us and that is the source of much of the series' psychic horror - that the thing which might destroy us doesn't even know we're there. Or if it does, we're a momentary blip on the radar that is easily forgotten.

It's a confrontation, a fundamental and necessary one from Vandermeer's perspective as the entirety of the Southern Reach series is an exploration of climate change and ecological collapse, and humanity's reaction to it. The government agency responsible for studying and controlling the thing has got nothing, no useful plans, no solid theories; not even metaphors to grasp Area X. They're just doing the same thing over and over again, hoping this time something will be different, this time they'll see, or hear something, or a switch will flick and all will be made clear.

The Biologist, then, is an argument towards acceptance. Accept where your limits are, what you do know and what you cannot know. Try to understand and appreciate things on their own terms, and see yourself in the context of the cosmic whole rather than in our modern notions of isolated individuality. Feelings of nihilism are part of this process, of shedding old meanings and old purposes but only so we can be free to find new meanings and new purposes that make space for the world.

There's a lot to unpack in this book and I am here for any discussion of any length on this series, because I love it with an intensity normally reserved for stars, nebula, and my wife.

Some of what I've talked about makes more sense if you can wrap your head around Timothy Morton's work on hyperobjects. It's pretty dense and borderline-mystical but I'm happy to expound on it at some point if you'd find that helpful.

[quantummindclassicalheart]

Also, for those based in the US, 23 states (as of time of writing) offer free community college for eligible students! The criteria vary by state but are usually income-/need-based.

For those who don't qualify for additional aid, the costs are reasonable-- in California it's a flat $46/credit unit (for a whole 16-week semester) for in-state students, where a standard course is 3-4 units (so around $140-180 for a full 16-week course). While many students enroll in a full course load of 12+ units, it's definitely possible to take less than that if a degree isn't your immediate goal.

Community colleges have programs to support students transferring to 4-year institutions, but they're also great places to learn in their own right-- in particular, because community college professors don't typically do research, they tend to be hired on the strength of their teaching.

As an educator myself, I'm a big proponent of creating structure for your self-directed studies. There's nothing wrong with dabbling in new disciplines and whetting your interest that way, but as I see it, when you approach a new subject it's often like being visiting a foreign city.

Just watching a video or reading a popular account is like staying on the tour bus-- you'll see the sights and get a broad sense of the city, but your exposure will naturally be somewhat limited.

Doing things like answering textbook questions, doing exercises, and quizzing yourself (what folks in the biz call "active learning") is a step towards getting off the bus, towards using your own mobility to learn the streets. It's a step towards engaging with the culture and the language and all the things that make that city great.

And working in that subject professionally-- moving to the city full-time, in the metaphor-- is a bigger commitment yet. Some people find this is the goal of their travels, but most people don't. And that's totally fine! All three of these options are equally valid, depending on what your goals are.

In my opinion, travel and (self-)education have a lot in common. There are often time and money costs associated with both. There may be accessibility impediments which make it hard for you to get off the bus (or even find a tour that will accommodate you and show you the things you want to see).

And both ask us to be humble as travelers-- to acknowledge that that while we don't leave our histories at home when we travel, the places and people we visit have stories and histories of their own, equally deserving of our respect.

[acknowledgment: the key metaphor here is adapted from Seven Sketches in Compositionality, a very nice textbook on category theory.]

DEAR EDUCATIONALLY NEGLECTED HOMESCHOOLERS

I’ve gathered some resources and tips and tricks on self-educating after educational neglect. This is only what I did and what I know helped me. I’m about to graduate college with honors after having no education past the age of 9. I wouldn’t be here without the following. Everything is free, and at/well above the standard for education in the US.

The holy grail: Khan Academy. Nearly every course you could take is available here, in order and by grade level. Their open-source free courses rival some of the college classes I’ve taken. This is your most solid resource.

For inattentive types: Crash Course offers a variety of courses that are snappy, entertaining, and extremely rewarding. They work for my ADHD brain. They also have college prep advice, which is essential if you’re looking to go to higher education with no classroom experience.

To catch up on your reading: There are certain books that you may have read had you gone to school that you’ve missed out on. This list is the most well-rounded and can fill you in on both children’s books and classic novels that are essential or at least extremely helpful to be familiar with. You can find a majority of these easily at a local library (and some for free in PDF form online low key). There are a few higher level classics in here that I’d highly recommend. If it doesn’t work for you, I’d always recommend asking your local librarian.

*BE AWARE* The book list I recommend suggests you read Harry Potter books, and given their transphobic author you may or may not want to read them. If you choose to, I’d highly recommend buying the books secondhand or borrowing from a library to avoid financially supporting a living author with dangerous and damaging views.

TEST, TEST, TEST: Again, Khan Academy is your go-to for this. I don’t personally like standardized testing, but going through SAT and ACT courses was the best way I found to really reveal my gaps so that I could supplement.

Finally: As much as you can, enjoy the process. Education can be thrilling and teach you so much about yourself, and help shape your view of the world. It can get frustrating, but I’d like to encourage you that everyone can learn. No pace is the perfect pace, and your learning style is the right learning style for you. In teaching yourself, be patient, be kind, and indulge in the subjects you really enjoy without neglecting others. You are your teacher. Give yourself what others chose not to.

[luxe-pauvre]

First we want to look at what motivates scientists where they do research. Why do they put in all the hard hours and long nights working ing at their craft? Are all of them drawn by insatiable curiosity to probe the mysteries of nature in solitary concentration? Philosophers who study science have often viewed science through this lens, focusing on how humans might ideally come to understand the natural world, while ignoring what inspires them to do so. Philosopher of science Philip Kitcher has a wonderful pair of terms for thinking about scientists and their motivations: epistemically pure, and epistemically sullied. An idealised scientist, interested only in advancing human understanding, is epistemically pure. […] The rest of us - including every living scientist we know - are epistemically sullied. We act from the same human motivations as everyone else. This doesn't mean that scientists are irresponsible, untrustworthy, or unethical; it just means that they have other interests beyond the pure quest for understanding. To understand how science works and where things can go wrong, we need to understand what these interests are.

Carl T. Bergstrom & Jevin D. West, Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in a Data-Driven World

[quidditch32]

Today, I read how natural history has been made an unwilling participant in shoring up the primacy of heterosexual reproduction.

I learned that reproduction beyond the vertical and heterosexual takes place regularly : liver grows and heals, intestinal lining is shed, cells die and we grow new skin.

Our understanding of species perpetuation and animal biology ( have only recently been unseated by epistemes borrowed from vegetal and fungal biologies) reinforce and strengthen ideas about: sex as the logical, teleological endpoint of courtship and romance; a deterministic mechanism hardwired into our biology for mating and multiplying.

I think so many people still believe that, like we have a genuine responsibility to procreate and perpetuate the species; as if it is something we shall be remembered by throughout the vast geological time shifts and scale.

For the longest time, nobody seems to have imagined otherwise. Even today, when most of these foundational beliefs have been picked apart, we continue to believe that love, romance and intimacy are pure human inventions, as if we started it and we never stopped.

Even queer love is weaponized to cement the understanding that only human beings can love, across time and space and testify to that sweet lie that Interstellar likes to tell you: love is what survives time and space, even bends laws of physics and makes us really exceptional.

I am not sure of that anymore.

But I am woefully ignorant and confused about a few things. I do not actually think if love is or if it is at all, then if it is the practice of humans alone. I do not think love can set us apart from other species in the world. Having said that, I would really like to know :

1. What is love?

2. Why do we kiss?

3. Is love neither platonic nor romantic?

4. Love does not have obvious reproductive benefits, so why does our biology ensure channels and circuits for its impression?

5. If it is mere biology does it make it any less real?

6. Were we not meant to love at all?

7. Do trees, birds, crocodiles, ants, aphids, toads love as well?

8. How did we learn to love? How did we separate it from hunger, anger, fear, terror, exhaustion, curiosity and the rest?

Please help me understand.

[coruscatingdust]

“What are you planning to do with your PhD?” Well, in this climate, it’s nearly impossible to get tenured in humanities so I’m not really getting my hopes up. I don’t even think I would like to be a professional “academic.” That’s not how I intend to live my life. I’ll be fine just getting some teaching job as an assistant professor somewhere and do research when I want to. I’d also like to write philosophical novels and poetry, maybe start a podcast, and get into the arts a little bit more. Some of my favorite philosophers wrote fiction (Iris Murdoch, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, etc.) so why not go on that path of creative writing? I’d enjoy it much more than being in academia anyways.

Then why am I spending time and money to get a PhD? It’s more for my own intellectual curiosity, to be honest. It’s to challenge myself and see how I can get through the standards of the institutions, well enough to publish scholarly journals. It’s to be part of the intellectual discourse and see what ways I can bridge the gap between academia and the rest of the world in their epistemic endeavors. I’m certainly less concerned about climbing the professional ladder than my peers and I’d like to stay that way.

[thosearentcrimes]

The TESCREAL acronym is bad because it puts excessive focus on fairly unimportant aesthetic and occultish curiosities and ignores the actual ideological baggage of the vague movement it identifies. The vague movement does exist and is probably worth naming but I think Rationalism worked just fine despite the ambiguity. The various apocalyptic prophecies and cosmologies and rituals and vocabulary quirks are easy to sneer at but they don't really tell you what the ideology is or if it's bad.

The reason they name Transhumanism and Extropianism and Singularitarianism is pretty obvious, it's a geneaology of Yuddism. And Yud is certainly worth discussing, both because of his role as a nucleus for the movement and because he was somehow let into Time Magazine to call for unilateral air strikes on datacenters and such. But if you want to say Yuddism you could probably just say that. Bringing Cosmism into it seems especially strange, sure it developed some ideas that rhyme but then so did Mormonism. Suspect that one's there just for the russophobia, honestly.

Rationalism and Effective Altruism are the main brands under which the subculture can be found. From what I can tell the overlap between these groups is massive (I would guess it's roughly similar to the overlap you would find between, say, the Catholic Church and a Catholic charity) so it makes sense to consider them together. I've seen the connection denied, which I suspect to be merely a manifestation of the standard Rationalist escape from terms (post-rat, post-post-rat, rat-adj, tpot, etc). It doesn't really matter though, if the overlap exists then you can just say Rationalism, and if it doesn't there's no point to a term. Longtermism is just a branch/faction of Effective Altruism that skips the Altruism part.

If you really wanted to create a novel term then I think the best place to start would be with the actual intellectual influences of the movement. The main beliefs that repeatedly crop up throughout Rationalist thought can broadly be characterized as Positivism, Utilitarianism, Neoliberal and Austrian Economics, and Sociobiology. This is combined with great interest in and optimism for technology, especially "AI" but also various forms of biotechnology. The reason these ideas tend to be popular among Rationalists is that they promise quantitative explanations and possibly exploitations of complex phenomena dense with qualitative evaluations.

Rationalists also have unusual epistemic commitments, strong group identity, and jargon, well beyond what is typical of fandoms and ideologies, their closest peers as collectives. This makes them somewhat vulnerable to cult formation. In my opinion it also explains some of the strange behavior of certain ex-rationalists (including Emile Torres by the way). It can also make them rather frustrating to argue with on occasion.

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Ignorance

The philosophy of ignorance, also known as agnoiology, epistemology of ignorance, or agnotology, explores the nature, causes, and implications of ignorance. It delves into questions about the limits of human knowledge, the origins of ignorance, and the role of ignorance in shaping individual and societal beliefs and actions. Here are some key aspects of the philosophy of ignorance:

Nature of Ignorance: The philosophy of ignorance investigates the concept of ignorance itself, considering it as a lack of knowledge or understanding about a particular subject or topic. It examines different types of ignorance, such as factual ignorance (lack of specific information) and strategic ignorance (deliberate avoidance of knowledge).

Causes of Ignorance: Agnoiology explores the factors that contribute to ignorance, including cognitive biases, cultural influences, educational systems, social norms, and political agendas. It examines how ignorance can arise from limited access to information, misinformation, or disinformation propagated by various sources.

Epistemological Challenges: The philosophy of ignorance raises epistemological questions about the reliability of human cognition and the extent to which knowledge can be attained. It considers whether ignorance is an inherent aspect of human nature or a result of external factors that inhibit the acquisition of knowledge.

Ignorance and Power: Agnoiology explores the relationship between ignorance and power, recognizing that ignorance can be wielded as a tool of manipulation and control by those in positions of authority. It investigates how systems of oppression and domination perpetuate ignorance to maintain social hierarchies and inequalities.

Social and Cultural Dimensions: The philosophy of ignorance analyzes the role of ignorance in shaping cultural beliefs, collective attitudes, and societal norms. It examines how ignorance can be culturally constructed and maintained through social institutions, ideologies, and practices.

Ignorance and Ethics: Agnoiology raises ethical considerations about the moral responsibilities associated with ignorance. It questions whether individuals have an obligation to seek knowledge and overcome ignorance, especially when it perpetuates harm or injustice.

Epistemic Virtues and Vices: The philosophy of ignorance explores epistemic virtues (such as curiosity, open-mindedness, and intellectual humility) and vices (such as dogmatism, closed-mindedness, and intellectual arrogance) that influence how individuals engage with ignorance and knowledge.

Overcoming Ignorance: Agnoiology considers strategies for overcoming ignorance, including education, critical thinking, empirical inquiry, and the cultivation of epistemic virtues. It emphasizes the importance of fostering a culture of inquiry and skepticism to counteract ignorance and promote intellectual growth.

In summary, the philosophy of ignorance investigates the complex phenomenon of ignorance, addressing its conceptual, epistemological, social, and ethical dimensions. It offers insights into the nature of human cognition, the dynamics of power and knowledge, and the challenges of navigating an uncertain and complex world.

[daniela--anna]

"Science is not content to say:

-God did it, he wanted it that way;

he also wants to know HOW he did it, and also, if he can, WHY he wanted it that way.

And God does not forbid this noble curiosity which is entirely consonant with that light of reason, which God himself gave to man, so that it might be the image of him."

(Antonio Stoppani)

This far-sighted consideration made by Antonio Stoppani, (Italian geologist, paleontologist and priest), seemed to be ahead of his time by prematurely highlighting a question that is common today.

In fact, especially in our era, in which progress in every field of human writing has made giant strides, many believe that the Bible, as well as the concept of a personal God, are irreconcilable with scientific thought and discoveries.

❓But is it really like this?

What does man have discovered so far reveal about the universe, life and himself?

The reality is that, despite scientific progress, the basic questions that give true meaning to the existence of all things are not found in science.

Simply because science is knowledge, a discovery, of something that was already there, whose principles someone used to prepare a universe hospitable to life which man should have used with respect and for good purposes, and not for deny its origins.

That this is the case is demonstrated by the fact that man's decline accelerated considerably when he began to doubt the possible reconciliation between science and God, replacing himself as the latter and making science his own religion.

"In his heart the fool says:

“There is no God”.

They are senseless, they act in a detestable way.

There is no one who does good."

(Psalm 14:1)

#episteme

#epignosis

📚🔍TO FIND OUT MORE SEE THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES AND TREATMENTS:

📚Are science and the Bible reconcilable?

📌

https://www.jw.org/it/biblioteca-digitale/riviste/g201102/Scienza-e-Bibbia-sono-conciliabili/

📚Bible and Science |

Do God and science agree?

📌

https://www.jw.org/it/cosa-dice-la-Bibbia/scienza/

"La scienza non si contenta di dire:

-Dio ha fatto, ha voluto così;

vuol anche sapere COME ha fatto, ed anche, se può, PERCHÉ ha voluto così.

E Dio non vieta questa nobile curiosità che è tutta consentanea a quel lume di ragione, che Dio stesso ha dato all'uomo, perché fosse l'immagine sua.”

(Antonio Stoppani)

Questa lungimirante considerazione fatta da Antonio Stoppani, (geologo, paleontologo e presbitero italiano), sembrava precorrere i tempi mettendo in evidenza anzitempo un quesito ch'è comune oggi.

Infatti soprattutto in questa nostra era, in cui il progresso in ogni campo dello scribile umano ha fatto passi da gigante, molti ritengono che la Bibbia, come anche la concezione di un Dio personale, siano inconciliabili con il pensiero e le scoperte scientifiche.

❓Ma è proprio così?

Ciò che l'uomo ha fin'ora scoperto, cosa rivela sull'universo, sulla vita e su sé stesso?

La realtà è che, nonostante il progresso scientifico, le domande basilari che danno vero significato all'esistenza di tutte le cose, non si trovano nella scienza.

Semplicemente perché la scienza è una conoscenza, uno scoprimento, di qualcosa che c'era già, i cui princìpi Qualcuno ha impiegato per preparare un universo ospitale alla vita di cui l'uomo avrebbe dovuto usufruire con rispetto e a fin di bene, e non per rinnegarne le origini.

Che sia così è dimostrato dal fatto che il declino dell'uomo si è notevolmente accelerato quando esso ha iniziato a dubitare della possibile conciliazione tra scienza e Dio, sostituendo sé stesso come quest'ultimo e facendo della scienza la propria religione.

"In cuor suo lo stolto dice:

“Non c’è Dio”.

Sono insensati, agiscono in modo detestabile.

Non c’è nessuno che faccia il bene."

(Salmo 14:1)

#episteme

#epignosis

📚🔍PER APPROFONDIRE VEDI I SEGUENTI ARTICOLI E TRATTAZIONI:

📚Scienza e Bibbia sono conciliabili?

📌

https://www.jw.org/it/biblioteca-digitale/riviste/g201102/Scienza-e-Bibbia-sono-conciliabili/

📚Bibbia e Scienza | Dio e la scienza sono d’accordo?

📌

https://www.jw.org/it/cosa-dice-la-Bibbia/scienza/

[joeabdelsater1]

Critical Analysis

Plass J. L., Homer B. D., MacNamara A., Ober T., Rose M. C., Pawar S., Hovey C. M., Olsen A. (2020). “Emotional design for digital games for learning: The effect of expression, color, shape, and dimensionality on the affective quality of game characters”, Learning and Instruction, Volume 70, pp. 1-13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.01.005.

In the world of game-based learning, the use of emotions has garnered a special type of attention over the years, as the need for a more dynamic learning method has been growing. Researchers from New York University dive into this topic in their article entitled “Emotional design for digital games for learning: The effect of expression, color, shape, and dimensionality on the affective quality of game characters”. In their writing of the text, the authors reflect on the affective qualities the design of game characters might have on adult and adolescent learners through the adoption of the Integrative Model of Emotion in Game-based Learning (EmoGBL). I have chosen to analyse pages 3-5 of this text, which examine the link between emotional design and intellectual stimulation mechanisms.

While the authors are professionals in the field of education, they base their studies on major empirical findings and ideas that demonstrate the relevance of recognizing emotion as a fundamental component of learning, cognition, and instruction. In the first paragraph of page 3, according to the EmoGBL model, emotions have a significant impact on four critical cognitive and motivational mechanisms: attention allocation, memory storage and retrieval, problem-solving, and motivational tendencies and behaviours. Most positive inducing feelings, such as pride and curiosity, have been proven to increase the desire to learn, whilst negative deactivating emotions, such as boredom and frustration, have been shown to decrease motivation. When examining the valence or affect and arousal of emotions in the scope of self-regulation, a more sophisticated perspective emerges. While happy emotions conveyed by visual design have been demonstrated to lessen the cognitive load and maintain attention levels, not all pleasant emotions lead to desirable learning results. Some positive emotions elicited by memory recall relating to personal experiences, for instance, have been proven to be detrimental to learning. This duality made me realise how we often generalise the usefulness of positive emotions, while we disregard the value of creating a customized approach to emotional design in GBL spaces to fit specific learning needs. Another discovery was that materials with warm colours and round shapes turned out to produce more positive emotions and a better understanding and transfer of scientific information, compared to materials with neutral colours and square shapes. Additional research mentioned that high arousal levels in games produce greater increases in cognitive skill than ones with low arousal, particularly for learners older in age or lacking previous experience in analytical aptitude.

The article explains how the EmoGBL model investigates both proximal and distal emotional antecedents, offering some insight into the complex systems that drive emotional reactions in game-based learning. Appraisals and emotional transmissions are proximal antecedents, with appraisal processes reflecting learners' judgments of themselves and circumstances, and emotional transmissions originating from real-life or virtual peers. These mechanisms are consistent with appraisal theories, which claim that emotions and our perception of events are inseparably connected, suggesting a subjective side to assimilation and learning. Through the model, the authors divide appraisal-related emotions into several categories, including achievement motivations (from desires of success and competence), epistemic emotions (from acquiring new knowledge), social emotions (from interaction, collaboration, or competition), topic emotions (from personal values and interests), aesthetic emotions (from the pleasantness of audio and visuals), and technological emotions (from the satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the interface). Furthermore, emotional transmission procedures like entrainment, contagion, and empathy reveal the interdependence between learners and the gaming environment, further contributing to the complex emotional landscape.

According to the article, players are more willing to connect with virtual characters in a game when their facial expressions convey a spectrum of emotions and when they consider the character to have human features. For this reason, the researchers decided to look into the four visual attributes of shape, colour, expression, and dimensionality to comprehend their influence on emotional design for GBL characters. Facial expressions, a distinguishing design aspect of game characters, are investigated in the article for their ability to cause emotional contagion, with both positive and negative expressions expected to increase arousal. The baby-face bias is triggered by visual form for example, which includes rounded features, large eyes, tiny noses, and short chins, reflecting helplessness, innocence, and sincerity. When talking about colours, warm tones, particularly orange, have been discovered as powerful elicitors of arousal, while the colour green, high in saturation, is able to instil hope, growth, and success. Red which usually indicates danger, means failure in the context of learning. It is very interesting how we are able to utilize colours and their arbitrary meanings to our advantage when dealing with learning material. The authors shift to studying the effect of dimension by comparing 2D and 3D graphics, which is extremely insightful. In fact, the usage of 3D visualizations has been proven to provide more potential for emotional affect. Characters that are displayed in 3D are expected to have more potential to push emotions to extremes when compared to 2D counterparts. This explains why most of us feel more captivated by 3D characters in cartoons and movies for example, even when we have more appreciation for the artistic craftsmanship in the design of 2D personas. An interesting point the authors made as well is how there are more options for integrating presence-inducing signs of the babyface bias in inanimate objects when rendering a game in 3D.

In the end, the EmoGBL framework illustrates the significance of emotional design in shaping learners' emotional experiences in game-based settings. The paper emphasizes the importance of experimental research and manipulations in unravelling the role of emotional affect in learning. It underlines the importance of a sophisticated approach to emotional design which was not available in traditional learning systems. I feel like adopting a GBL approach instead of the outdated teaching methods during my past studies could have changed my relationship with my studies for the better. Nonetheless, future research should look more into the impact of larger societal and cultural factors on emotional reactions as GBL evolves.

[merrikstryfe]

So then what’s causing all the sturm und drang? For Currid-Halkett, the answer lies in educational and cultural differences. About 17 percent of rural residents hold bachelor’s degrees, compared to nearly 25 percent of urbanites. In 1990, urban areas had 36 percent more college graduates than rural areas; today, that figure has risen to 41 percent. To take just one example, while just 12 percent of Texas residents have four-year degrees, nearly half of those living in Austin do. On multiple dimensions, from access to opportunity to economic dynamism, this educational lag has a large price tag. Moreover, educational divides tend to express themselves in a package of social and cultural preferences that not only highlight differences—mainly rooted in religious beliefs and practices on both sides—but are the main ways by which urban elites exercise cultural power over and against rural residents. This is where “woke” meets the country road.  According to Currid-Halkett, educated urban elites insist not just on nominal and legal equality between people across dimensions of race, sex, and sexual orientation. They also demand a specific (and constantly evolving) vocabulary for recognizing and upholding equality. This vocabulary, she says, and the worldview it expresses, relates to the strong currents of the “cultural capital” required to join and benefit from the globalized economy. The unwillingness of rural Americans to play along with “wokeness” reinforces urban America’s economic advantages and provides it a social and political cudgel to wield against rural dwellers. The phenomenon also tends to strengthen the sociocultural boundaries around rural America, as rural residents stand watch on the ramparts of the institutions they do control—mainly their churches—for possible woke incursions. The Overlooked Americans offers two main solutions to this increasingly rancorous urban-rural culture war. The first, and most profound, is to try to persuade urban elites that what they often regard as “facts” are instead deeply informed by philosophical commitments that mimic, and perhaps replace, the role religion played for earlier generations. Some of what urban dwellers believe is “science” is what Currid-Halkett calls “scientism,” or an ideology of science that forms a kind of sacrament for urbanites, and a symbol of tribal identity. A little introspection among elites on the role of commitments to progressive environmentalism, gender, and sex orthodoxies is in order. The search for transcendence is everywhere, including at Whole Foods. The book also couples this call to epistemic humility with one for Americans to become better, less judgmental listeners. Currid-Halkett’s advice in this area boils down to one of the precepts of all interpersonal engagement: Assume good intent until proven otherwise. The failure to use the correct pronouns or a decision to vote for Donald Trump says very little about someone’s motivations and beliefs, or about the importance attached to those actions. As curiosity replaces outrage, Currid-Halkett argues, we will be able to find the values that connect rather than the differences that divide.

[abstractdotsthird]

How To Be Curious Again

Almost two weeks ago I talked about interests.

I have learned more about it. Curiosity plays a crucial role when it comes to doing learning or working. For a long time, I have been feeling a loss of curiosity. But obviously that has been changing and I am glad it is.

As I kept going through things I realized that doing the work as hard, obviously. I was really just over curiosity, relying on discipline to get them done. Later I realized that I need curiosity to at least have sensibility towards what I am interested and I found none.

I have been practicing observation or keen observation. Thanks to that I have been observing a lot of my actions, thoughts and ideas. And what I observed was that I was curious all along… but about the wrong things.

There are a lot things which we do throughout our days, on social media and in general. We are excited to do them. They are the tasks and interests related to the external world, they hold close to no value when it comes to our success.

We are curious about some upcoming web series, their casts, their promotions, our favorite artists, what they are up to, when this their new work coming, our favorite musicians, did they say anything new, cat videos, what are our friends upto, did they post anything new, what are the updates in our particular genre and so on.

We have started to care too much about our external world, so much that we have lost interest in ourselves. It's painful for us to sit alone and assess what we are doing, what is happening in our inner world, where we are heading, our intellectual interests.

People say they are not curious but that's actually not true, you are curious but are the wrong things. What they are referring to is Intellectual curiosity or epistemic curiosity. We do the irrelevant things almost.. automatically. Instantly clicking to know what our friends are doing, is that not curiosity?

These things have occupied our mind, we think we are not curious but in reality the other things have taken over. On top of that our curiosity is being fed easily, feeding the irrelevant curiosity is easier than ever, literally a few clicks away.

We are lacking two things here: Mindset shift and discipline.

So we are so involved in it, we have to just cut it off. Really that is the solution, I know easier said than done.

After that—it is going to be painful but engage in intellectual work, learning. Even before we knew that we were interested in that book or essay but just the amount of pages or words made use feel tired, again because our curiosity was being fed easily. Now when it comes to learning it is painful and hard.

Switching things up and doing them is going to be hard but remember discipline now while learning the things you want will build your curiosity later. You would have trained yourself and your brain to do whatever it takes to get what we want.

Thanks for reading

Yush.

Subscribe to my newsletter here.