This week, the CE is celebrating World Creativity and Innovation Week. We’re highlighting all kinds of campus events and things to see with our map of Campus Creativity Hotspots. Check out things to do, see, make, and learn! We’re also gettin’ all kinds of creativity and innovation up in the blog. Each day this week, we’ll post about five key facets of creativity and innovation: inspiration, curiosity, passion, dedication, and reflection. Up today: curiosity.
Curiosity in its simplest definition is a desire to know about something, and although this seems like a basic part of life, it is the major driving force of research, art, creativity and innovation. Without curiosity, people are indifferent or uninterested, which are emotions that don’t really drive anything at all. There is an old adage that says “curiosity killed the cat.” This proverb suggests that too much curiosity can lead to trouble, and although this is a good warning, I would argue that the blame is misplaced for the poor feline’s untimely demise. It wasn’t curiosity that got this cat into trouble, it was ignorance. We’re always curious, and if we need to stay curious because if we’re not curious, we risk indifference, stagnation, and disinterest. In other words, Willis Carrier didn’t invent modern air conditioning because he wasn’t interested in keeping cool in the summer. Enough about dying cats, here is a video of curious kittens trying to figure out how a treadmill works.
What keeps you curious?