Why Do We Crave Useless Knowledge?

Learning something purely because it’s interesting—not to make money from it, not to turn it into a marketable skill—almost feels radical. It’s a reminder that curiosity doesn’t have to serve a purpose.

And that’s exactly what research—especially the kind that leads down “pointless” rabbit holes—gives us. It reminds us that learning isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about depth, exploration, and wonder. In a time when AI delivers pre-packaged answers, we’re realizing that true understanding doesn’t come from speed—it comes from discovery.

History often presents itself as grand, sweeping narratives—wars, revolutions, prominent figures that reshaped the world. But the tiny, easily missed fragments of peoples everyday life holds a different truth than what we’re used to seeing. In some ways, the search for these details feels like reaching back in time and keeping those voices from fad

The digital age is transforming not just what we know, but how we think. He argues that the internet has trained us to expect instant answers, that we don’t sit with ideas or think deeply anymore.