WEBVTT 00:00:01.899 --> 00:00:06.540 Hi, I currently have nine grandchildren who light 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:10.759 up my day. And one reason is they are immensely 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:16.039 curious about everything. One of my favorite 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:19.039 examples was with my oldest grandson, and he 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:22.559 was about five years old. We would watch videos 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.960 from Three Blue, One Brown. And these videos 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:30.329 used beautiful animation to explain. advanced 00:00:30.329 --> 00:00:33.850 mathematical ideas. Now, my grandson understood 00:00:33.850 --> 00:00:38.090 very little of the mathematics, but that did 00:00:38.090 --> 00:00:42.829 not bother him one iota. He would watch intently. 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:46.210 He would repeat the words that he heard, point 00:00:46.210 --> 00:00:49.670 at the pictures, and ask questions. He was not 00:00:49.670 --> 00:00:53.130 intimidated by unfamiliar symbols or strange 00:00:53.130 --> 00:00:58.479 names. He simply enjoyed exploring. Well, I think 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.380 we all know that children are naturally curious. 00:01:01.820 --> 00:01:04.739 They're not trying to achieve anything. They're 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:07.980 not studying for a test. They're simply discovering 00:01:07.980 --> 00:01:12.299 the world around them. Curiosity seems to be 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:16.540 built into us. But somewhere along the way, many 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:20.019 of us begin to lose it. School can train us to 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:23.900 focus on getting the right answer. Work can train 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:27.719 us to focus on results. Life can train us to 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:31.620 avoid mistakes. And without realizing it, we 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:36.640 begin replacing curiosity with certainty. We 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:39.760 stop asking questions and start assuming we already 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:44.280 know. So this week, I want to suggest that curiosity 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:47.340 is one of the most important qualities that we 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:51.640 can develop and always pursue. Not because it 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:54.599 helps us accumulate information. but because 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:58.920 it transforms how we see the world. For much 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:02.519 of my life, mathematics was mostly a school subject. 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:05.959 It was a collection of formulas, procedures, 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:12.199 and answers. And then, on my 52nd birthday, my 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:15.639 sister gave me a book called The Music of the 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:19.560 Primes. It's a story about Bernard Riemann and 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:23.460 the greatest unresolved mystery of math. It was 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:27.620 the first math book I read that felt like a story 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:32.340 rather than a textbook. And from this book, I 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:35.319 discovered mathematics was not really a collection 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:38.819 of answers. It was a collection of questions. 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:43.539 What patterns hide inside numbers? Why do some 00:02:43.539 --> 00:02:48.259 patterns repeat while others do not? What happens 00:02:48.259 --> 00:02:52.219 if we follow an idea further? than anyone has 00:02:52.219 --> 00:02:57.280 before. And probably most important, that human 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:02.240 drama of it all was simply fascinating. Bernard 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:07.039 Riemann was absolutely amazing, an incredibly 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:12.080 curious person. So, one book led to another, 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:17.319 and then another. Eventually, mathematics transformed 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:21.599 from a subject into a living tree of connected 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:27.120 ideas. And it all started with curiosity. So 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:29.360 perhaps that's true for many of the best things 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:33.520 in life. Curiosity can kickstart new friendships, 00:03:33.819 --> 00:03:37.379 learning, and growth. And from my experience, 00:03:37.539 --> 00:03:41.439 curiosity is not something I need to learn. It 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:46.379 is something I need to recover. So will you join 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:50.360 me this week? as we focus on rediscovering our 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:51.120 own curiosity.