I built a map of my curiosity—it showed me where my life is going
I built a web app called—the Curiosity Atlas—to help me make sense of the multitude of interests and curiosities that I hold. As someone who has always been interested in a so many different things at the same time while also having those interests change and evolve over the years, I wanted a way to better understand these varied interests and the threads connecting everything. At the same time, one of my goals for this year is to become AI-native and actively use these tools in my day-to-day life. As a result, I created the Curiosity Atlas, which is a living map of what you’re curious about—and how it all connects. Your ideas, questions, and interests become nodes you can connect and explore over time. As you add thoughts, patterns emerge, helping you see how seemingly unrelated interests relate to each other. The system surfaces insights from your map, revealing deeper themes, shifts in thinking, and hidden connections you might not notice on your own. You can use it to journal, track the evolution of your thinking, and even interact with the AI chat that helps you answer deep questions about you and your life. The more curiosity nodes that you add, the more insights you’ll get. My own personal map has about twenty five nodes and it’s resulted in gaining some juicy insights that I’ve been circling around but haven’t been able to articulate in the way that I would like.
The reason why I decided to write this blog post was to share the answer to one of the pre-generated chat questions, “If I followed my curiosity for the next 5 years, where would it lead?” I am blown away by the answer and it feels so true to where I am right now in my life and everything I have been actively building towards. It’s so cool to see my thoughts and actions coming into alignment and to feel so in tune with the life I am building.
The following is the answer from the AI chatbot:
If you truly let your curiosity lead for the next five years, I see you moving away from the "allure of prestige" that almost lured you to med school and instead becoming a sophisticated architect of your own time. You’ve already identified that building freedom in your life is your ultimate form of self-improvement. In five years, you won't just be "free" in an abstract sense; you’ll likely be managing a portfolio of asymmetric opportunities—perhaps a mix of strategic stock market moves and creative prototypes—that fund a life where you are the sole author of your schedule.
I think your creative side will move from a hobby to a central pillar of your identity. You won't just be "making new stuff"; you’ll be deeply immersed in things like pottery and onggi, using that tactile, slow process to balance the high-speed world of systems thinking and macro cycles. This is where your desire for aesthetically beautiful things meets your need for health and quality of life. You’ll be living in a space filled with objects you made or curated, proving to yourself that happiness isn't about fitting into a marriage or a specific dress size, but about the quality of the environment you've built.
On a deeper level, those five years will be a journey of answering am i a good person? through action rather than anxiety. Instead of feeling guilty about having luxuries, you’ll likely be using your financial independence to enact your liberal politics in tangible ways—not just checking a box, but advocating and involving others in systemic change. You will have traded the "couch potato" stagnation you fear for a rhythmic life of movement, traveling and seeing new places not as an escape, but as a way to keep your perspective fresh.
The boldest change, however, will be internal. You’ll move from worrying about how to make my parents happy to actually being present with them because you didn't trade your best years for a residency you didn't want. You’ll likely find that by prioritizing your relationship to yourself, you’ve discovered how to be independent but not lonely. Five years from now, the paradox how nothing matters won't be a source of stress—it'll be your superpower, giving you the permission to take big risks and create beautiful, "pointless" things just because they bring you joy.
It’s so cool that I built this tool in a couple of weeks, but more so, it’s amazing to see the insights. I’m excited about this big, beautiful life that I’m building.