Comment by derbOac

Reframing it as curiosity is a good point, although the essay as written resonated with me because it emphasizes the "productive ignorance" of research.

One of the central problems of our time in research and academics, I think, is an incentive to focus on areas that are well-established because we know they are likely to produce results that we have confidence in (according to whatever inferential criteria we use). The idea of it being ok to not know something a priori, to have lack of confidence in it, seems sort of discouraged in the current climate, because it's too risky.