Are the phrases "This interests me alot" and "This is very interesting to me" the same

Explanation:

-"This interests me a lot" could be seen as "This seems interesting to me, I'd like to look more into it."

- "This is very interesting to me" could be seen as "I find this interesting and already research it.

It's essentially just differences on how somebody could interpret it, but they are fundamentally the same phrase.

jefferson introduced the idea that one does not change a government for "light" causes because he wanted to emphasize the seriousness of colonists' reasons for declaring independence.