Knowledge to Wisdom

Scientific literacy, in my opinion, is a necessity in today’s multifaceted and complex world.  As a scientist, I believe science is involved in all aspects of life from politics to art and vice versa.  As we read in in the article by Jon Miller for the first day of class, although the United States has the second leading scientific literacy rate in adults at approximately 28%, that rate is nowhere close to where it should be in the United States – or anywhere else for that matter.  What exactly IS scientific literacy?  Should everyone know how to read graphs and interpret complicated data?  According to the United States National Center for Education Statistics, "Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participating in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity". No mention of graphs or data – what a relief. The interesting part about this definition is that it is all about the individual’s self-interest. Scientific literacy helps an individual with his or her own personal decision making, his or her own participation in worldly affairs, and his or her own economic productivity.  Take it a step further and look at it from “a whole is greater than the sum of its parts” perspective.  Everyone’s individual parts of self-interest can come together to help the community we live in as a whole.  That is why scientific literacy is so important – it has the power improve or damage the community in which we live.  Modern democracy highlights the importance and need for scientific literacy.  Democracy is supposed to be a government by the people, allowing citizens to have a say in decisions that affect their lives and exercise their rights.  How can people make decisions that they don’t understand? How can they elect candidates without understanding that candidates view on stem cell research or global warming? We are losing out by just picking a side on issues such as these without understanding it. Scientific literacy has the ability to energize individuals and therefore, energize democracy.  It would be like a domino effect.  An increase in scientific literacy could lead to an increase in people’s expectations.  Individuals with high expectations for themselves also indirectly demand high expectations for society.  This demand could lead to people being more informed and/or more active in the political process.  Being more informed and action will lead to more effective politics and ultimately, progress.  This progress would prove to be not just scientific or politics-based – it could slowly and complexly create a robust social revolution.  It could change the way we think, the way we interact, and the way we do things.  For so long we have been chasing knowledge. We want to know more, make more discoveries, advance further.  But now we need to propose the question of how this knowledge and these advances affect our world.  We need to move out of the scope of just knowledge and start seeking/incorporating/creating wisdom.