Curiosity (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)

4

Curiosity Is as Important as Intelligence

By Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

There seems to be wide support for the idea that we’re living in an “age of complexity,” which implies that the world has never been more intricate. This idea is based on the rapid pace of technological changes and the vast amount of information that we’re generating (the two are related). Consider the philosophers Leibniz (17th century) and Diderot (18th century), who were already complaining about information overload. The “horrible mass of books” they referenced represented only a tiny portion of what we know today, and yet much of what we know today will be equally insignificant to future generations.¹

In any event, the relative complexity of different eras matters little ...