There is nothing like a good trivia to distract the mind from reality. Curiosity, somewhere is tapped by its interest in a provoking thought. Perhaps that is why Jeopardy, the game show, has been hugely popular for so long, widely considered the most intelligent format of all the game shows.

Trivia isn’t necessarily synonymous with “unimportant”, just unlikely to be known by the average person. It is often specific and familiar only to experts in the field who spend a great deal of time studying details.

In school, exams usually test students on exceptions, assuming that the general principles are already known and the only way to measure thoroughness is by questions involving unlikely anomalies that might occur.

Medicine for example requires absorption of large quantities of facts. It also assumes that an understanding of normal physiological processes (homeostasis) helps in speculating patho-physiological results when imbalance occurs, always supported or refuted by the scientific method. Comprehending anything that might affect harmony is probably not trivial when what is thought to be inconsequential, as a matter of perspective, can effect the outcome.