I've always felt a desire to 'get to the bottom' of things. Maybe it was too many Scooby-Doo cartoons or Agatha Christie books as a child, but I find immense satisfaction in uncovering the why, what and how. The drive to understand the underlying essence of my interests reflects a deeply rooted, primal urge that many humans share: the desire for knowledge and understanding.

Across human history, we have been explorers, pioneers, innovators, and survivors who have gotten to where we are as a species by making sense of the world around us. This drive to understand has led us to tell shared stories, subscribe to religion, practice science, and laugh at the absurdity of it all (comedy). Gaining an understanding of the world can help us think for ourselves, be more insightful, achieve our goals, and live more fulfilling and satisfying lives.

Truth or perceived truth unites humans. Truth can be timeless and an ever-relevant constant like that of the fundamental laws of physics, math and human nature. Or it can be subjective and evolve like technology and fashion. This dynamic nature of truth in many areas of our reality is exciting because it means that there is always more to discover. I'm interested in understanding temporally relevant truths (temporal truths) for areas of our human experience that spark my curiosity.

Interestingly, I've noticed being outright told the solution or truth isn't enough. Often I've needed to experience and discover a solution for myself to really understand or appreciate a truth. If I was given all the answers to my problems straight away, it may help, but I wouldn't fully understand and appreciate them without this personal experience and application. And when new problems come along I'd be no better prepared to solve them.

I like to view each of my interests conceptually as an 'archaeological dig site', where past temporally relevant truths from history can be uncovered via exploration, learning and studying those that have come before me. Temporal truths should be reproducible and falsifiable to some extent.

When exploring these 'sites', I like to start by discovering different perspectives and finding the truths that have been previously uncovered. I aim to discover new temporal truths in areas that interest me and share them with others so that they can share in my satisfaction, and potentially increase their timespan.

Through this journey so far, it's become apparent just how little I do know or understand. But that just means there's so much more for me to explore and learn.

"The actual truth is that there are many more secrets left to find... But we will never learn any of these secrets unless we demand to know them and force ourselves to look." - Peter Thiel

Footnotes

• Great article that covers an interesting perspective on pursuing truth.

• An interesting perspective on the nature of secrets by Peter Thiel that inspired this article.