Image: Geoff Oliver Bugbee
Questions – curiosity –are/is (I would argue) the central defining characteristic of intelligence (as it is manifested in our human form). From our first words... to our first steps to our first journey it is intrinsic to our very being to want to know who what why or where. Nobody tells us to ask questions. No parent, or teacher, or TV show, or social media feed tells us – programs us – to want to know 'zup?' We just do. I wonder why? C’est une bonne question…. The Future of Questions (LinkedIn)
Some have argued, and do argue beneath the hyperlinked post at LinkedIn, that artificial intelligence already asks questions, and some pretty good ones at that. I don't know enough to disagree. But I would make distinction between finding the obscure connection, which is, I believe, the promise of big data, and making the connection that transcends or contradicts the available information in ways that only humans can appreciate. The former expertly finds the faintest signal, the latter, its echo. Every successful poet, entrepreneur or scientist transcends her subject matter.
Would we even want a future where every question is answerable?
Is ignorance just a lack of data?
Stay curious™
Wayne