Is “Useless Knowledge” Useless? Maybe not if it makes things taste sweeter

Knowledge is often valued only for its practical use. Yet some learning seems to serve no purpose in daily life. Russell reminds us that so-called “useless” knowledge can deepen our experience of the world, making ordinary things richer, more meaningful, and sometimes even sweeter.

Is “useless knowledge” useless?  A strange sort of question.

Here is what the British philosopher Bertrand Russell says in a little book of essays titled “Let the People Think,” which I came across by accident in a second-hand bookshop some years ago.

Perhaps the most important advantage of ‘useless’ knowledge is that it promotes a contemplative habit of mind.

Credit: Bertrand Russell

And he tells this short story:

Curious learning not only makes unpleasant things less pleasant, but also makes pleasant things more pleasant.

I have enjoyed peaches and apricots more since I have known that they were first cultivated in China in the early days of the Han dynasty; that Chinese hostages held by the great King Kanisaka introduced them into India, whence they spread to Persia, reaching the Roman Empire in the first century of our era; that the word “apricot” is derived from the same Latin source as the word “precocious” because the apricot ripens early; and that the A as the beginning was added by mistake, owing to a false etymology.

All this makes the fruit taste much sweeter.

Credit: Bertrand Russell

Yes, it is useless knowledge; you can do little with it, but as he says, it makes the apricot taste that much sweeter. Does it do that for you? It does for me.

We can choose to make space for knowledge that has no obvious use. By paying attention to it, we may find our lives enriched in quiet ways. Let’s keep learning out of curiosity, not only for what it can do, but also for how it changes our perspective.

Resources

• Book: Let the People Think by Bertrand Russell
• Book: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge by Abraham Flexner