I think what I connected to the most in John R. Gillis’ article The Blue Humanities, was his understanding of the way in which we as people get curious. It seems to almost be in human nature to want to understand what is unknown. We have always put our dreams into the vast unexplored spaces of the universe, i.e. space, unexplored land, etc, and the ocean is not an exception to that. The quote “Dreams and nightmares that had previously been projected on terrestrial landscapes were now invested in seascapes. Even as the oceans became an object of science, they produced new myths.” is one that I think reflects this perfectly. As we explore the sea more and more, it just becomes more apparent that there is so much of it that will potentially not even be explored in our lifetime, and this is what intrigues people. The unknown world that exists simultaneously with us creates an endless desire to understand it within people because it allows us to imagine what could possibly be living among us. It’s different from just reading a fairytale or fantasy book, this is stuff that could possibly be real and the less we know the more we want to. I think this concept also resonates with and connects to what Emerson was saying in his speech about going out and exploring nature in order to learn. The desire to understand the world around us and create ideas of what might be in the world around us allows us to become more independent thinkers. This allows our brains to be stimulated in a completely different way than just reading and understanding someone else’s point of view.