Introduction
“When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it, and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”
– J. Robert Oppenheimer
A review of 20th-century history reveals a critical, undeniable fact: Intelligence is not a guarantee of a positive result.
The Manhattan Project stands as a technical masterpiece, having assembled the foremost experts in physics to tackle intricate theoretical challenges surrounding nuclear fission. The team successfully developed and engineered a mechanism to initiate this reaction in a practical setting, meticulously following every step to achieve a logical and verifiable result. However, despite this technical brilliance, the outcome was the creation of a weapon with the power to extinguish human civilization.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the lead physicist, later famously quoted Hindu scripture, realizing the gravity of what his “success” meant: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
How can a project be a perfect success in the lab, but a potential failure for humanity? Knowledge and Expertise do not equate with Wisdom.
What is “Wisdom?”
Wisdom as a Mathematical Equation
If you are entering a STEM field today, you are spending years building your intellect. You are accumulating Knowledge (formulas, axioms, laws of physics) and gaining Experience (labs, internships, projects). These are the tools that help you succeed in the world.
But intellect without wisdom is just an uncontrolled force.
“Yesterday, we fought wars which destroyed cities. Today, we are concerned with avoiding a war which will destroy the Earth. We can adapt atomic energy to produce electricity and move ships, but can we control its use in anger?”
– Robert Kennedy
To be truly successful – not just as a scientist, but as a leader, and a human being – you need more than just the inputs of knowledge and experience. You need to solve for a different variable entirely. You need to solve for Wisdom.
Wisdom is not a mystical concept reserved for philosophers on a mountain top. It is a function of four specific variables. And just like any complex system, if you ignore one variable, the equation falls apart.
Defining the Wisdom Function
If we accept that Wisdom is the desired outcome, we need to understand the components (inputs) required to generate it. Wisdom is not a random occurrence; it is the result of a specific integration of variables.
We can define the Wisdom Function as follows:
To solve for W (Wisdom), you must understand the nature and function of each variable.
1. = Knowledge (Your Database)
In our equation, Knowledge is the raw data. It is the accumulation of facts, information, and established laws.
Think of Knowledge as the hard drive of your computer (your brain). It is filled with terabytes of information – years of research, chemical equations, and physics constants.
But a hard drive full of facts has a limitation; it knows that a tomato is a fruit (botanical classification), but it does not know that a tomato does not belong in a fruit salad. It has content, but no context.
2. = Experience (Real-life Application)
Experience is the application of Knowledge in a real-world environment. It is the process of converting theory into practice through repetition.
Consider this analogy: experience is the Lab Experiment. You take a hypothesis () and test it against reality. Experience is the collection of data points derived from failures and successes.
But experience has a limitation: It is reactive. It tells you what has worked in the past, but it cannot always predict what will work in a completely new future environment or application.
3. = Self-Awareness (Internal Calibration)
Self-Awareness is the understanding of our own influence on the data.
Consider this instrumental chemistry analogy: Instrument Calibration. In any experiment, the instrument used to measure the data may affect the result. For example, if your electronic balance is not zeroed out (tared), every measurement you take is flawed.
Self-awareness is the process of checking to see if we’re solving problems the right way, and for the right reasons. It forces us to stop and ask: What am I really trying to do here? Are my actions to benefit the project’s outcome, to fix a problem, or just to make myself look better? Are my personal feelings clouding my judgment? Am I ignoring facts that don’t fit my hypothesis? And ultimately, does the outcome match my core beliefs? If you skip this internal check, all your knowledge () and experience () may not matter, and the solution will be biased.
4. = Faith (The Constant)
This is often the most difficult variable for the scientific mind to accept, yet it is essential for the equation. Faith has many forms. There is a faith in a set of scientific axioms or principles, which may or may not continue to be valid in the current situation. There is faith in your knowledge and skill, the ability to adapt and solve any problem you may face. And there is a faith in God or a higher power, which gives you strength and guides your moral compass.
Faith acts as a moral constant, an internal compass guiding you when all the facts are not yet known. It’s what helps you discern not just what can be achieved, but what is right, connecting what is understood to what is yet to be discovered.
The Scientific Analogy: A great deal of scientific work starts with a theory or idea that hasn’t been completely proven yet. It’s all built on a fundamental trust – like believing the established rules of physics will hold up in any new situation, no matter what.
Personal Commentary
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
– Albert Einstein
Sometimes, because we are trained to be analytical thinkers, we convince ourselves that we are agnostic. And when we look and see something we don’t understand, when we should be filled with awe and wonder, we are so busy trying to find a scientific explanation that we convince ourselves it’s not a miracle, that it is not the act of God or a higher power. Wisdom, for me personally, is my recognition that I cannot underestimate the power of God and his plan.
Now that we have defined the variables, we can see how they interact. The mistake most students make – and the mistake the educational system often encourages – is focusing entirely on the first two variables, Knowledge and Experience.
Two Wisdom Function Analogies
Scalar vs Vector Measurement Example
Most of us in the science realm were introduced to the concept of vectors and the difference between scalar and vector measurements in our middle school science classes and again in our high school and college physics classes.
As a refresher for these concepts, consider the following example: Imagine you were to ask me directions to a local restaurant, and I were to say you drive 45 miles per hour for 15 minutes. This is a scalar measurement. You have no idea which direction you were to drive; you have only one piece of information, the velocity at which you are to drive, and you need the direction. The definition of a vector is that it has a magnitude, in this example, 45 miles per hour, and a direction, let’s say directly east. You now have both components of a vector. The directions to the restaurant are to drive east at 45 miles per hour (vector) for 15 minutes.
Now, think of your career trajectory as a Vector.
The sheer power of your abilities, the Magnitude of your professional vector, is determined by your Knowledge () and Experience ().
These factors directly influence:
- The depth of intellect you can bring to bear on any challenge.
- The speed with which you can reach a solution.
- The sophistication and complexity of the problems you are capable of solving.
A person with great intellect and extensive experience is a force to be reckoned with. However, magnitude is a scalar quantity, it lacks direction.
The Direction in your life’s “vector” is determined by Self-Awareness and Faith.
- Self-Awareness provides calibration for the “Why?”: It answers the question, ‘Why am I doing this?’
- Faith ensures your internal belief system is aligned: It addresses where your actions fit within your personal moral and internal convictions.
The Guided Missile Example
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Imagine a missile guidance system.
- If you have low Knowledge and Experience (Low Magnitude), the missile barely leaves the launchpad. It’s ineffective and harmless.
- However, if you have incredible Knowledge and Experience (high Magnitude) but lack Self-awareness and Faith to set the coordinates in the right Direction, you have created a disaster. You have a high-speed projectile aimed at the wrong target.
The STEM Trap
In your classes, you are graded almost exclusively on Magnitude. Did you get the right answer? Did the chemical reaction work? Did the bridge you designed hold the weight?
But in life, Wisdom is the vector sum. It is useless to be the smartest engineer in the company if you are building something that ultimately causes harm because you didn’t ask the “faith” or “self-awareness” questions.
Conclusion
Wisdom () is the alignment of your Magnitude () with the correct Direction ().
Wisdom is not an accident. It is not a trait you simply “pick up” as you get older. It is the deliberate integration of what you know (), what you do or have done (), who you are (), and what you believe ().
If you remove any variable, the function fails.
- Without Knowledge, you are clueless.
- Without Experience, you are just theoretical.
- Without Self-Awareness, you are unreliable.
- Without Faith, you are adrift.
