The Rise And Fall Of Curiosity

It is not really clear whether humanity developedexpeditions. The nautical charts were burned. The
intelligence because it was curious or its curiositytreasure ships sat in the harbors until they rotted
developed its intelligence. It could very well be aaway. And the technology of how to build such
combination of both, with our natural geneticsophisticated ships gradually passed into oblivion.
capacity for inquiry stimulating more complex andZheng He discovered many countries, including
interconnected neural nets and bigger brains.Sumatra, Malacca, Java, Ceylon, India, Persia, the
For a long time, psychologists believed thatPersian Gulf, Arabia, the Red Sea, Africa, and
intelligence was fixed, but new evidence showsTaiwan. He brought back to China trophies and
that the more we learn, the more neuralenvoys from more than 30 kingdoms. His records
connections are formed and the more we canand maps may even have shown the Americas,
learn.Antarctica, and the tip of Africa.
The driving force behind all learning is curiosity, theWhat killed China's exploration of the world?
desire to know, to explore, to experience newChinese bureaucrats steeped in Neo-Confucianism
things.thought that since China was obviously the
A curious lesson about the implications ofgreatest civilization in the world that they had
appreciating and withdrawing from curiositynothing to gain from mixing with foreign people.
occurred between 1405 and 1433, when the MingChina became insular and the Western World, so
government, under the foresighted Yonglefar behind in technology and the learning arts
Emperor decided to establish a Chinese presencebegan to catch up. Eventually, a few centuries
in the Indian Ocean basin. He assigned Zheng Helater, by the time of the Opium Wars, the small
317 ships, with 28,000 armed troops. Thisisland of Britain had enough technology to
expedition awed the people of the coastlines, whocompletely humiliate this giant country and seize
were amazed by the nine-masted ships. Theseits major ports.
were the biggest ships ever known in the world,And just as the decline of a whole civilization can
with a technology about 500 years ahead of itsbe traced back to the eclipse of curiosity, even
time.on an individual level, most people only enjoy a
During his first three voyages, Zheng He visitedbrief expedition into learning about new worlds.
southeast Asia, India, and Ceylon, and on the nextAfter their schooling years, most people settle
one, he traveled as far as East Africa. Liberallyinto a routine of quiet desperation and fail to
dispensing gifts of silk, porcelain, and otherrealize that they live in a world of wonder and
Chinese wonders, he also received amazingmystery.
presents from his hosts.The wonders of learning are enormous; besides
The Chinese people learned much about otherpersonal growth, there is a thrill to it that makes
people, their customs, and their deities. Zheng Heeverything else pale in comparison. Here for
was also respectful. For example, in Ceylon, theyexample is the poetic euphoria felt by Zheng He:
erected monuments honoring Buddha, Allah, and"We have traversed more than 100,000 li (50,000
Vishnu. They also astonished the people backkilometers) of immense water spaces and have
home when they brought back "mythologicalbeheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains
animals" like the Zebra and the Giraffe.rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on
Suddenly the world of the Chinese peoplebarbarian regions far away hidden in a blue
expanded beyond belief, as did those of thetransparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily
people visited.unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their
Zheng He himself was reported to be acourse (as rapidly) as a star, traversing those
remarkable man, who was rumored to be verysavage waves as if we were treading a public
tall and broad and walked like a tiger. Chinesethoroughfare." (Tablet erected by Zhen He,
scholars escorted him, drew nautical maps andChangle, Fujian, 1432.)
wrote fabulous reports on all that was beingConservative scholars at court, clinging to an
discovered.outmoded philosophy, did not realize thatwith the
Then in 1424, the Yongle Emperor died and withdeath of curiosity, they had also condemned the
him the curiosity aroused by the Chinesefuture of a great civilization. 100 years before
expeditions. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor,Columbus opened up the Americas, China lost its
who reigned from 1424 to 1425 slowly erodedchance to know and explore the world.
the popularity of the expeditions. He was followedWithout a sense of wonder, life is but a petty
by the Xuande Emperor, who permitted one lastaffair. Whenever a civilization, a country, an
expedition, during which time Zheng He died andinstitution, or a person loses it, their world shrinks
was buried at sea.and entropy begins. Entrenched in the quotidian,
A huge surge of conservatism not only ended thelife loses its luster, and the promise of what could
expeditions, but the bureaucrats even went asbe fades away like a dying sunset.
far as to destroy all known records of the