I’m curious enough about self experimentation to read about others’ results, even try out some of their finds, but not enough to invest time measuring every day.

I’m curious enough about Deming’s methods and Lean to read library books and popular bookstore books about the subject, but not enough to pay $40 or $hundreds for more expensive training materials.

I was really curious about the technical details of creating a story. I was half tempted to try and scrounge up $600 and airfare for McKee’s seminar. Lucky for me, I found he authored a bookstore priced book. That was one of my best finds last year. Story is a fabulous read.

Note, I’m a computer programmer. I’ve made a habit of trying to study outside my field and it’s amazing what I’ve found. Here’s _why_ agile works, according to Deming. Here’s what Lean manufacturers do. Did you know that “waterfall” never worked anywhere? Anywhere? We didn’t “borrow” it from anywhere. No one does it and sees it work.

So I’m definitely living out the curious thing, but I have my limits.

Your professor friends who don’t attend each others’ talks are truly missing out on half the excitement of their jobs. You get go to the presenter and breathlessly tell them how what they just said relates to your field, or even the other way around. Did you know … ?!

This is the best book I’ve read in the last year. You’ll recognized relatives, friends, and co-workers on every page (and perhaps yourself, if you are honest).

Unfortunately, this approach is flawed philosophically and does not necessarily translate into future physicians who practice medicine effectively, with insatiable curiosity. I had to create my own major to pursue my curiosity–that was not recommended in terms of looking good on medical school applications. I did it anyways; my path was much more valuable that way for me. When I elected to do my Master in Health Administration degree following undergraduate, instead of go straight to Medical School, on of my friends at UCSF Med School asked, “Why would you do that? Do you like studying that stuff?” Every medical decision is an economic/financial/policy decision, I thought, and I pursued my curiosity further. Experienced physicians praised me for foresight, but I still penalized myself in terms of jumping through the mainstream hoops most successfully.

Our educational system focuses on the known, not the unknown. Curiosity helps children interact with the unknown. After awhile of schooling that teaches them the grand importance of the known, that curiosity starts to go dormant, unfortunately.

The more you standardize education, the more you drown our curiosity.

Cheers,

Brent

My wife’s grandfather died of prostate cancer, which it now turns out is caused by a virus, XMRV, the same virus that appears to cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. For a long time anyone presenting with CFS was referred to the psychiatrists. Arguably what actually did him in was the radiation treatment, which entirely transformed him in just a few weeks; afterwards he was just waiting to die.

Aaron, I found my Berkeley students were intensely curious about stuff related to what they wanted to do after they graduated, like be a nurse. But yeah, I remember when I was a grad student at Brown, a lot of the students in my statistics section (I was a TA) couldn’t see the point of anything that wasn’t going to be on the test.

I think it’s normal to be interested in stuff related to what you do for a living and not be interested in other stuff but what these pain doctors seem to be saying to the Taylor-Schotts is what they do for a living isn’t alleviate pain but make money. Since mirror therapy doesn’t involve them making money, they’re not interested in it.

Neither one was interested in what he was doing that might have caused this.