The Link Between Mortality and Curiosity?

[Lomelinde]

As I was reflecting last night on LOTR, I got to pondering on Lorien and then elves in general. I started thinking about how the Lorien elves were very locked away within themselves, never leaving their home,looking to the past wistfully rather than forward earnestly, and just overall desiring to keep things the way they had been for ages,meanwhile spurning inevitable change.And while the Lorien elves were particularly guilty of this, I realized that all elves,to some degree,harbored these reticences to sweeping change.On the other hand, the race of Men and even Dwarves, to some extent, struck me as hungry to move forward, to find "better" ways of doing things,to "build the better mousetrap".
Now my question:Is there a relationship between a race's mortality and their desire for knowledge?I'm not talking of lore and tales and ancient wisdom;of course the elves yearned for these. I'm speaking of pure curiosity, the quest for science and technology, which the races of Dwarf and Man seemed to possess in great abundance, and the elves not. In fact, the elves appeared to scorn and fear curiosity, regarding it as "unnatural", and not understanding it's powerful drive and influence in shaping the emerging race of Man.
Although elves were immortal and wise, they chose to live in the past and be content with "the way things were". The race of Man was mortal,but chose to pursue learning and embracing change. Did Iluvatar, when he created the races of Middle-earth, have this plan in mind? Did he awaken strong curiosity in Men so they could fulfill their purpose and eventually take over after the elves left? Just some thoughts.... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]