Talk:Curiosity

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Is there a "crappy article" template? Mbarbier 01:29, 19 August 2007 (UTC)


There is an empty references section. What is the deal? Mybadluck22 06:30, 29 May 2007 (UTC)


I removed several sections that are not encyclopedic, are assumptions, and lack sources. 172.149.3.40 02:15, 15 March 2007 (UTC)



The penguins are awfully cute, but what do they have to do with curiosity? Pha telegrapher 08:08, 6 February 2007 (UTC)


The last two paragraphs under the last two headings are confusing me, especially the first. I do not know if they are entirely neutral, and they seem a little graphic. I have not edited them at all, because I do not have the expertise do deal with it. Could someone help, or, if there is no problem, just say so here and remove the nuetrality tag. Thank you. 205.208.239.153 01:19, 26 January 2006 (UTC)


"curiousity confers a survival advantage to certain species, and can be found in their genomes"

This claim is completely unsubstantiated! To my knowledge, no evidence exists linking *any* behaviour directly to genetics. Either this claim must be removed, or evidence must be cited linking curiosity to genetics - and I do not believe this evidence exists. (CB, 15th October 2006)


[edit] etymology

I wonder where the word "curious" comes from because "fuck" in German means "quaint" by contrast the French word "curieux" means "curious", too.--Homei 17:51, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

It seems to come from Latin curiosus meaning careful[1]. However, the article on epistemic virtue says that their use of "curiosity bears the modern connotation of inquisitiveness, in contrast to the medieval connotation of attraction to unwholesome things." Do we believe that? DLeonard 14:02, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Is there a "crappy article" template? Mbarbier 01:29, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Picture Caption

For as long as I can remember the caption of the pic has been "A foolish feline forgets that curiosity killed the cat", but now it has been changed to "A curious kitten" by someone why claims to have "restored the original picture caption". I've been through the archive, viewed the last seven revisions or so, and tried some random samples from the rest of the archive, but I haven't found this caption in any of them. My first question is therefore, how is this the original caption?

Secondly, I plead that the previous caption be restored, because as far as I know it's the only example of an utterly harmless joke that hasn't been eliminated relentlessly by an overly serious editor in a grumpy mood. If there is any negativity to Wikipedia's reputation, it's that Wikipedians have no sense of humour. Fyrius 17:42, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

There's a difference between having no sense of humor and recognizing where humor is appropriate. While it may be funny to accuse a kitten of foolishness, and patently ridiculous to accuse an animal of forgetting something it never learned, it is not technically accurate (unless you can cite sources that this particular cat was foolish or forgetful of the adage in question) and not particularly appropriate as the caption to a picture illustrating a concept in an encyclopedia. I'm all for humor in its many splendors, so if you can find an accurate yet slyly humorous caption, be my guest, but in the meantime I'm putting it back to the original caption (here - from when it was changed from the previous picture).
On a separate note, "A curious kitten." removes the link to Curiosity killed the cat, which it may be appropriate to add a mention of somewhere in the article.
Ruyn 20:23, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

(sigh) Well, all right. If you really insist that we be so obnoxiously serious at all times, I won't revert you again. But if we're going to be so strict about verifiability, maybe we should throw the picture out entirely. We can't verify that the kitten in question was curious at the moment when the picture was taken, nor does it add all that much to the value of the article. Curiosity in itself is too abstract to illustrate with a photograph. Fyrius 20:30, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Before going back to the original caption, I considered "A kitten displays its naturally inquisitive behavior by peering into a flower-pot. Cats are often associated with curiosity." as a new caption. What do you think? Ruyn 15:15, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

I think that might be a better caption, although it's a bit long. It would make the picture somewhat more relevant and verifiable. However, the second sentence contains what I believe is called a weasel word; it is against the policies to say some association is often made, or at least it is so without any references to convince the reader (or rather, any editors that may come across it) that this is true.

I would therefore refine it into "A kitten peers into a flower-pot. Cats are often proverbially associated with curiosity." It is after all more verifiable that this proverb exists than that people associate cats with curiosity. Fyrius 22:10, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Insects? Really?

"Curiosity ... is easy to observe in many other animal species. These include ... insects". I rather suspect that the brainpower of insects is too limited to permit curiosity. Any cites on this one way or the other? -- 201.19.77.39 10:46, 19 October 2007 (UTC)