Isaac Asimov, American writer: “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom”
Scientific discoveries have been making leaps and bounds at every increasing rates but unfortunately mankind hasn’t been as fast to assimilate them.
If you were to have a “Rip Van Winkle” experience of waking up after a 20-year nap, you would most likely be taken aback by how much the world has changed in just that short period of time. Donald Trump has gone from hosting The Apprentice to occupying the White House.
Ownership of smartphones that are fifty times more powerful than the average PC in 2006 are nearly universal. Artificial intelligence and human-like robots are no longer something of science fiction.
It seems like scientific advances are moving at an ever-faster pace as the years go by. Unfortunately, mankind hasn’t been as fast to assimilate them. This is nothing new though as Isaac Asimov pointed out in his 1988 book, Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations.
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom,” the prolific writer of science fiction novels and the inventor of the Three Laws of Robotics said.
Mankind isn’t keeping up with science
Society’s ability to absorb new advances in science is constantly being put to the test. Our lack of being able to understand and assimilate new scientific knowledge has led to backlashes against it in some cases.
Case in point, the development of mRNA vaccines. One of the miracles to come out of the covid-19 pandemic, while they saved countless lives, there is still skepticism around the now established technology. This has been fueled in large part by people hoovering up loads of false information across social media.
Then there is our need to tackle climate change. Despite the problem being evident for decades now, and numerous solutions to help us be better stewards of the planet at our disposal, we are failing to act with sufficient urgency. That is even as the prophecies of climate scientists are becoming more present and persistent.
Sadly, even the technology that Asimov’s writings help form our perception of, artificial intelligence, isn’t helping us to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and societal wisdom. In fact, studies have shown that AI is making us slower and less creative.
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