It is probably the coolest thing that you could spend your life doing.
How does it start? It starts with exactly that. A question. Your inquisitive mind conjures up a question that you are very interested in learning the answer to. This is the same inquisitive mind that you were born with. Thus, the pursuit to find an answer begins.
What do you do first? Ask your the question to your friends, your parents, your teachers, your dog, anyone and anything within earshot. Each answer that you hear might not resonate well with you. You want something better. You read books, papers, Wikipedia, Google,etc. It is still not enough to give you a satisfactory answer. So, your quest starts to develop into a passion to learn more and better equip yourself to answer the question.
As a scientist, this is what drives you. Asking questions. Learning more. Asking more questions. Even if you learned the answer to the original question, you don't stay there. You dedicate your life to the fascinating art of solving puzzles. It's much like solving a Rubik's cube. The task of having each side of a cube all one color sounds deceiving simple. At first, it looks quite possible. However after your initial attempts, you seem be in a similar state with which you started. You try and try and try again but seem to run yourself in circles. There are points where you seem to be on the right track but you are stuck at a dead end. What do you do? Ask a better trained Rubik's cube solver for some tips. Once you have trained yourself in a variety of cube solving skills, you set yourself up for being able to solve the entire puzzle. Then the day comes and you finally configure the puzzle to this simple state. Now solving this puzzle seems so easy. The perfectly decoded cube sits there curiously looking you in the face. You and the cube are satisfied. For an instant.
In this curious pursuit to answer the questions, you may leave in your wake technological advances that may benefit society. There will be times when there is no technique in the world that can help you solve a problem along the way. You need to be creative and resourceful to find a solution with the tools that you have. Maybe this is the first time someone has ever done it. Maybe this is something that future generations can continue to use and improve upon. Maybe. However, you were doing it since you were interested in finding the answer to the question.
And this epic journey started simply by asking a question.
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