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Pete Kaminski

Role: Technology and collaboration expert, knowledge management practitioner

Contributions to the Discussion

Pete brought a nuanced perspective on curiosity, emphasizing that it manifests as both innate traits and learned social practices.

Core Philosophy

Pete argued against the simple narrative of declining curiosity:

"I see declines in curiosity, but I think I also see increases in curiosity, too. So, I think it changes the landscape. It keeps changing."

Curiosity as Social Practice

One of Pete's most significant contributions was his personal story of learning curiosity as a social skill from his wife Johanne:

"I learned from Johanne, my wife, to be able to be curious and have a conversation with somebody, even if maybe you don't care in the grander scheme of things, or you're shy, or whatever."

He described himself as "kind of shy" but learned that:

"It's just a rote thing, right? It's just human and polite to be sitting with somebody and to ask them, you know, how's your life? Do you have pets? Do you have friends? Where did you grow up?"

Key Insight on Gender and Curiosity

Pete shared Johanne's observation that men are acculturated to not be curious, especially about women:

"In a way, it was a kind of women's work, that she doesn't mind doing because it's not the worst thing that women have to do in this world."

However, Pete emphasized:

"It's not hard at all to learn to ask humbly and be genuinely interested in the answer."

AI and Technology Adoption

Pete discussed his experience with AI as requiring active curiosity:

"When I tried playing with it, it was actually hard work, I remember. Having to sit down and go, okay, what can I do with it now? What crazy thing could I give it?"

He described testing AI with poetry in three languages, creative writing prompts, and experimental tasks - demonstrating innate curiosity driving exploration.

Pete drew parallels to early adoption of PCs and the internet:

"I don't know what it does, but let me find out, let me try to break it, let me try to do crazy stuff with it, can it do this, can it do that?"

Navigating Social Curiosity

On the game of social interaction:

"It's a bit of a participatory game that is best played by both participants; it's okay to answer by redirecting to a different topic rather than one you don't want to talk about."

Aphorisms Shared

"Every tool is a crutch."

"The tool is not the skill; the tool is the crutch until the skill is yours."

Cultural Insights

Pete provided nuanced information about Japanese culture and curiosity:

Japanese culture values 探求心 (tankyūshin, focused desire to discover and understand deeply, rooted in long traditions of scholarship and the shokunin spirit, where traits like 精進 (shōjin, diligent effort), 向学心 (kōgakushin, desire to learn), and 好奇心 (kōkishin, curiosity) are admired.

He noted that Japanese curiosity is balanced with:

Links Shared

Themes Pete Explored

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