<p>Computer Scientist. The essence of the field is simply solving problems in the best possible manner, and can be applied to anything. Every single field needs software for it. The theoretical side of the subject is incredibly philosophical. I’ve seen work on on stuff like playing games optimally to finding equations to explain physical phenomena to simulating human behavior and thought patterns and whatnot.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I enjoyed reading them.</p>
<p>law is boring…if your the type that doesnt care about rules and require the freedom to be intellectually curious… STAY AWAY FROM LAW!!!</p>
<p>This thread is interesting to me because I recently went back to work after a number of years as a SAHM.</p>
<p>I took an administrative position at a human factors consulting firm. In the end, I decided to leave because, as I told the owners, I needed something more intellectually stimulating. At our next group lunch, the owner asked how many of the employees wanted intellectual stimulation at work. No one indicated any interest in being intellectually stimulated.</p>
<p>That’s why they’re still there, and you’ve left.</p>
<p>Toblin–you stole my fantasy!</p>
<p>How about academia in a very ideas-y, interdisciplinary area–cultural studies, or epistemology, or neuropsychology, or history of science–something that would lead one to study and make connections between lots of different areas of knowledge.</p>
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<p>If a person can listen well: therapist or counselor.</p>
<p>As Karen Horney put it:</p>
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<p>There is obviously more to counseling than just that, but the trait you describe is central to the task of knowing a wide range of people well.</p>
<p>I think the best thing for an intellectually curious person is to plan on changing jobs/fields every 5-10 years.</p>
<p>Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a Nobel prize winning physicist, famously changed his area of work (not straying out of astrophysics however) every 10 years or so to keep it fresh for himself.</p>
<p>I agree with ihs.</p>
<p>Two most intellectually curious folks I’ve ever “gotten to know” are Thomas Pynchon and Richard Powers. Both started in science/engineering and both switched to literature, which they said was about “everything” and the least restrictive discipline.</p>
<p>I love to read about everything. I teach at the college level, everything from history of ideas to poetry. Have a PhD in English and on the way learned the science/math/religion of every period I studied the literature of and teach same.</p>
<p>My S, who is also very intellectually curious, is an Art Historian.</p>
<p>My D, who is less so, is into law and history.</p>
<p>The medical fields are great for the curious, as there are always questions that need an answer, and a process of discovery in getting there. But it requires curiosity about the human race, and human psyche. Being filled with curiosity, I have a great time at work (hospital RN) picking people’s brains regarding their fields of expertise, and enjoying their stories. Working in an ER would satisfy this curiosity even more, as that person walking, or being hauled in, is a mystery waiting to be solved. </p>
<p>My parents were both some of the more intellectually curious folks I’ve ever known, and I’d include mythmom in that group. But my dad’s approach was to get through his day job (management and technology) as fast and efficiently as possible, and then get on to what really interested him in his off hours. </p>
<p>Academia can be a process of “learning more and more about less and less” or a wide ranging interdisciplinary inquiry. I am most jealous of employees at LAC, where there is a wide ranging spirit and celebration of inquiry, with closer proximity to other fields than at major universities. </p>
<p>So pick a focus that calls to you, whether tech, humanities or the arts, or medicine, and use that as a springboard for your curiosity, and move within that focus.</p>
<p>As a former newspaper reporter and copy editor, I would caution against journalism. To be a good journalist, one has to have not only intellectual curiousity, but a natural distrust of the world and the way it works. One also has to have a desire to share this with others and not be overly concerned with the fallout. And writing and journalism actually have little to do with each other. Grammar and the “inverted pyramid” writing style can be taught to those willing to learn. But true journalistic instincts are inborn, IMO.</p>