Call Me Dr. Strangelove

I can load chore lists and required social appearances and work related events and all sorts of absolutely necessary horseshit onto my iPhone calendar.  And I can set alarms to remind me to care terribly about all the important things that must get done. 

And my life is 100% more organized. 

And I am happier and healthier and I’m fairly sure that I’m probably going to live 5 or 6 years longer than originally expected: now that I’ve solved my all of my organization difficulties with this hunk of electronic gadgetry.

And I no longer wonder about things the way I used to.  The puzzles that used to keep me up at night are now solved, filed, forgotten.  I now lack no information.  What country exports the most caper berries?  Denmark does.  Who holds the world record for the longest moustache?  I have no idea; but I’m not worried about it because, if I wanted to know, I could.  Currently, I don’t care who has the longest moustache.  But I may later.  I’m not worried about it.

Having the Information Superhighway in my pants pocket has allowed me to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb.  Call me Dr. Strangelove.

But this new shortage of wonder has left me wondering about the plausible benefits of wonderment that I may be losing out on nowadays.  Are there benefits to unsatisfied curiosity?  Maybe not.  For instance: It is certain that stark nudity is never as enticing as lingerie; but, ultimately, satin will never be as satisfying as skin.  And you can’t judge a book by its cover.  And of course, curiosity actually killed a cat.  And only the raw power of satisfaction brought it back.  Curiosity may only be useful if it not left open-ended.

According to Australian author Julia Barnard, in a 2007 article entitled Curiosity - What it is, Why it Matters and How to Develop it, the benefits of curiosity include:

By being curious, you will be:

• More open minded

• Enjoying the world around you

• Excited about what is going on in your life

• Increasing your awareness of the world

• Enhancing your chances of experiencing flow and therefore happiness

• Learning new things

• Building your confidence

• Improving your job performance

It does seem, that in each of Barnard’s examples, it may be particular answers gathered, albeit due to the impetus afforded by curiosity, rather than the curiosity itself, that has resulted in a certain benefit.

So basically she’s totally wrong.  Or maybe she’s right in Australia.  Sinks drain counter-clockwise in the Land Down Under, they smear Vegemite on everything and kids drink beer for breakfast.  Backwards weirdos: the lot of them.  I only sound bitter because I wish I could drink beer for breakfast.  My iPhone has not cured jealousy.

My point is that the security of available knowledge has taken the place of the irresolute anxiety that I used to suffer from.  I don’t feel like I have to know everything; because I can find out anything whenever I need/want to.  And this has made me happier and possibly even more likeable.

How you like me now?  Wait, don’t answer that: I will use Google analytics to measure daily page impressions before and after this post.  Life has been quantified for me and I couldn’t be more pleased.