I believe he is absolutely correct when it comes to curiosity increasing the likelihood of survival of a species (ignoring the species problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_problem). Because others learn from the curiosity of others as well as the one that is curious. Even if the occasional damage is dealt to a species through curiosity, the other members will likely learn and benefit from the mistakes previous beings have made.

Curiosity is good for the group, but perhaps not for the individual?

In evolutionary terms, this is all that matters. For individuals it's definitely a crapshoot.

In which case you can make a Darwinian distinction between a "clumsy" curiosity and a "cautious" one, with the cautious types eventually winning out.

Hard to draw a line, because "curiosity kills the cat" is to say about a witty animal. Cat is surely wicked. But it gets killed.

But that needs some science of curiosity.