Prompt 17: Why Do We Seek Knowledge?

Object 1: My brother’s Rubik’s cube

The image above corresponds to a 3D combination puzzle known as the Rubik’s cube
that I play with occasionally. The goal of the Rubik’s cube is for each side to become one
uniform color. Before being mine, it used to be my older brother’s toy. As a young boy, I always
watched my brother try to solve it using many different techniques. When he was learning how
to solve the puzzle, I became curious about the steps/process he used.

This experience shows that we want to seek new knowledge—in this case, learning how to do
the Rubik’s cube—to please our own curiosity. The sense of curiousness I felt about this
unknown knowledge (how to solve the Rubik’s cube) paved the way to many new discoveries
like the different patterns used. In particular, my curiosity was more directed towards the process
on how to solve the Rubik’s cube and not what the end product looked like. The numerous
combinations we can use in order to solve each step of the puzzle (like the first one of creating a
white cross) were fascinating to me. Learning and analyzing the different patterns and steps
furthered my capacity to predict the next move coming, problem solve, and improve my memory
while also helping me understand the value of persistence given that it took immense thinking
and time to discover the patterns and understand how they worked.

All of these new capacities developed because of a simple sense of curiosity in an 8-year-old
child. The Rubik’s cube is included in this exhibition because it demonstrates how curiosity—in
the process of an already known result—can fuel the desire to seek knowledge.
Object 2: The scissors in my kitchen

These are scissors I have in my kitchen. We all use different types of scissors for various
tasks, but the kitchen ones are the biggest and most dangerous kind. When people see these
scissors for the first time, they don’t think that they are sharp and end up cutting themselves
because they don’t know how to use them properly. In order to be safe around objects like this
one, we have to make sure that we know their utility and the way to use them.

In this exhibition, the scissors are particularly interesting since they help show another reason
why we seek knowledge—self-preservation. When I was young, I always wondered why we
would use such big scissors in the kitchen but not at school. So, I was scared to approach them
since I wasn’t sure how they were used or for what. As I got older, I needed to start using the
scissors for school projects for things that were hard to cut with normal scissors, so my dad
taught me how to properly use them without getting injured. When my dad was not with me to
use the scissors, knowing that they could be harmful led me to act more carefully when using
them. The knowledge we seek to increase our self-preservation is needed in order for us to judge
what we can consider dangerous or not. Moreover, the scissors also enhance the idea that
knowledge sought for the preservation of oneself is most often given from one generation to the
other (e.g., my father taught me how to properly handle them). This newly acquired knowledge
will not only help us be safe around objects of this sort, but it will enable us to feel more
confident when manipulating one of them.

Therefore, the scissors are a great asset to the exhibition as they let us know that we seek
knowledge for self-preservation. While there are other reasons as to why knowledge is sought,
this is one of the most important reasons because, without self-preservation, we wouldn’t be able
to properly protect ourselves from dangerous objects.
Object 3: My Drum set

The image above includes the drum set I use to play the drums. I have always loved the
drums since I was a little kid, but I never actually learned how to play. This is due to the fact that
my older brother played the drums before me and thought that I should leave this instrument for
him. After seeing him play it for the first time, I admired him for how easily he was able to
synchronize his feet with his hands and keep playing consistently. This admiration for his
drumming skills, and the fact he is my older brother, made me seek new knowledge on how to
play the drums.

This drum set is worth including in this exhibition as it explores the fact that impressing someone
we look up to and wanting to build a stronger relationship with someone can motivate us to seek
new knowledge. Here, the reason why I sought knowledge in order to impress my brother was
for him to be proud of me when I showed him what I had learned. This would also help me feel
satisfied and push me to learn more about drumming. Interestingly enough, the fact that I sought
this knowledge can also help me improve the relationship with my brother as we could start
playing the drums together. Moreover, learning how to play the drums in order to impress
someone you care about with newly desired knowledge can lead to stronger bonds forming
between both people (e.g., my brother and I in this case).

In conclusion, we see that the picture of the drumset is included in this exhibition as it
demonstrates that knowledge is also sought when feeling the need to get closer to someone or
impress that person.

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