Which is exactly how the ILOVEYOU virus spread back in 2000, doing an estimated $5.5–8.7 billion in damages worldwide. On the other hand, you’d probably feel epistemic curiosity if you got an email from a friend with a text document labeled “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU” attached to it - especially if that friend is pretty cute. It may not make you “happy”, but it would bother you all day if you didn’t investigate further. So you might feel perceptual curiosity if you read a terrifying headline on a news site about the latest natural disaster. Both have been vital in our biological - and technological - evolution. According to astrophysicist and author Mario Livio, there are two basic types of curiosity: perceptual curiosity, which is when you learn something surprising (and often unpleasant) and gives you an itch you need to scratch, and epistemic curiosity, which is when you want to learn something because you think it will be pleasurable and you anticipate an award.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |