Abstract
Lively minds are by definition curious. Among the higher animal species, curiosity and intelligence are quite often closely linked. Cats and birds are prime examples of curious and highly intelligent life forms. Real curiosity is all about persistently meddling with the world. Curious animals, faced with a static environment, will go and perturb it, even at great risk to their safety. Cats frequently get themselves stuck up trees or jammed in trash cans, or peppered with hedgehog or porcupine quills, all in the name of curiosity. So curiosity and intelligence often go hand in hand. Is there a causal relationship? Assuming they are linked, does intelligence cause curiosity, does curiosity cause intelligence, or does some unknown factor happen to create both? I believe that, to a degree, the answer is "yes-all of the above". Curiosity has the effect of generating novel experiences, which lead to learning and thus improve mental competence. High mental competence in turn fuels curiosity, because it provides the wherewithal to manipulate the world and discover new things.
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