disinterested is the opposite of bored

I read Jon Ronson's, So You've Been Publicly Shamed and really enjoyed it. I was thinking about what makes this, or any other book or show or speech or whatever, compelling. What engages me? I think it's when it's not what you expect. I'm not that interested in the book's ostensible subject matter - people being publicly shamed and how, in today's world, with social media and so on, people can be exposed to extremely severe shaming and criticism. The book works through issues related to that subject. But that's not what holds my attention. The subject of the book isn't that interesting to me. It's something else.

It's a combination of the fact that what I'm reading is interesting but also, I don't really know what it's getting at or where it's going. I don't really care about the argument the book makes (its thesis) or the conclusions the writer comes to...I'm not even interested in the argument or the points he makes. I don't really want to learn anything from it or increase my understanding.

But strangely and ironically, I think that's what makes for good learning...that's what makes for engagement....disinterestedness. Not 'uninterestedness' - no, it's actually the opposite. Disinterestedness is intense curiosity but for the enjoyment of it - not because you need to learn about it to complete some project or get something done. To be disinterested is to be detached from results [which is different from not caring], and a lot of really, really good things come about as a result of disinterestedness.

It seems like a strange word (because you would think that the 'dis' pre-fix signifies opposition, but it doesn't). The key to understanding it is to realize that it's talking about a different type of interest to the one we're referring to when we say something is interesting. Normally that's about having some kind of stake in the matter, whether that's in terms of money or particular results. We can speak of having 'a financial interest' in a project. To be disinterested means you don't favor one side or the other, but rather you favor the truth or some other altruistic goal. If someone is disinterested, it means they are doing something because they really want to do that thing. They don't have any ulterior motives or agendas. And, ironically, the results - the results attained when someone doesn't really care about results - are often spectacular....far more so than when someone is trying to achieve a particular goal.

I think...I'm open to debate about this, but I think...that some of the best learning is disinterested learning. One of the joys of research is that you don't know how your research is going to be used. Some of the most useful things in this world began with research with the aim of expanding our knowledge and understanding of some field, and only later was the practical application figured out.