This is why smart people make STUPID decisions

Welcome to the Liberty Science Center. Let's see what fire we could find inside. Here's something that I found fascinating. Take a look at this. This is a robot that can solve a Rubik's cube in seconds. It's unbelievable. The robot scans the Rubik's Cube and a computer inside the robot uses artificial intelligence to solve it in as few turns as possible. It's yet another example of just how intelligent our world is becoming. But watching this made me realize something. We live in a world that's chasing intelligence faster than ever before. Faster AI, smarter computers, processing plants the size of mountains are generating more information than any human being could ever consume. Humanity has never been more obsessed with becoming intelligent. Yet, at the very same time, another kind of knowledge is quietly fading into the background. And ironically, the faster we chase intelligence, the more we seem to be forgetting the other type of knowledge, a type of knowledge that is just as important and in many ways way more important. And that knowledge I'm referring to is called wisdom. Let's ask a simple question. What is the difference between intelligence and wisdom? Because knowing the difference between the two might reveal something very important about the world we live in. Intelligence, according to the Webster dictionary, is the ability to deal with new and evolving situations. Wisdom, according to the dictionary, is the ability to recognize and live by the timeless truths and principles that give meaning and direction to life. In other words, intelligence is the knowledge of what's new. Wisdom is the knowledge of what's old. Intelligence is figuring out how to make your car work more efficiently or curing a new disease or building high-powered lasers. And wisdom is knowing how to raise your children or how to conquer jealousy or how to control your anger. Intelligence helps you survive change. Wisdom ensures that you stay close to the things that never change. Intelligence tells you how. Wisdom tells you why. Intelligence builds faster computers. Wisdom decides what those computers should be used for. Intelligence can build artificial intelligence. Wisdom tells you when to use your own intelligence. Intelligence can land a rocket on the moon. Wisdom teaches a husband how to speak to his wife. Intelligence can tell you how to make a million dollars. Wisdom tells you when you've made enough. Elon Musk has intelligence. Your rabbi has wisdom. Now, don't get me wrong. Living in an incredibly intelligent world is an extraordinary blessing. Our ability to solve problems has never been greater. Diseases are being cured. Technology is transforming our lives. Information is available in seconds. It would be foolish not to appreciate that. However, it would also be foolish not to point out that there is an obvious danger in a world this deeply saturated with intelligence. And that danger is that such a world can easily fool us into thinking that it's also wise. Because the world is so high tech and glittery and shiny and fast and cool and intelligent, it gives off the illusion that it's also wise when it's not. Ask Chat GPT to explain how satellites work and it will spit out more intelligence in 15 seconds than the greatest scientist who ever lived. But ask Chat GPT, "How do I work on jealousy?" and will give you an answer with less wisdom than what a 14-year-old from 2,000 years ago would know. But since it's so polished and it's so organized and since it's a machine comes from a machine that has mastered intelligence, we assume it's mastered wisdom. But it hasn't. And that's the danger. Once intelligence starts masquerading as wisdom, we slowly stop turning to the people and books and scrolls that have guided us for centuries and begin letting styles and algorithms and whatever is trending tell us how to live. And when we allow algorithms to become our teachers, we shouldn't be surprised when we start thinking like algorithms and we become reactive and driven by trends and shaped by whatever gets the most attention rather than by what's the most true. If you do an honest assessment of where your wisdom comes from and realize that you spend very little time learning wisdom from the timeless wisdom of Tyra and Khaz, then don't be surprised if you find life's biggest decisions incredibly difficult. Because almost every decision that will determine the quality of your life isn't an intelligence question. It's a wisdom question. The Jewish people are referred to by the rest of the world as the people of the book. We didn't get that name from the mere fact that Jews write more new books than almost every other group of people on earth. Or from the fact that for most of world history, the literacy rate amongst non-Jews was around 2% while ours was close to 90%. No, it's more than that. We are called the people of the book because we are the people that realize that wisdom is found in books in ancient timeless ideas passed down from generation to generation. Jews more than anyone on earth believe in anchoring ourselves to the wisdom found in books found in Tory and Khazal and written thousands of years ago. Not because we're afraid of change, not because we're afraid of advancement. We love intelligence. We celebrate discovery. We embrace innovation. In fact, more often than not, Jews are at the forefront of innovation. The reason we clutch close to the wisdom of our past is because we recognize that while intelligence keeps changing, wisdom doesn't. And when it comes to navigating life, you need wisdom. Technology has improved our physical lives in ways our grandparents could have never imagined in their wildest dreams. And we should be grateful for it. But one of the most important decisions you'll ever make in navigating your life is deciding where you get your intelligence and where you get your wisdom. Technology will continue to get smarter, AI will continue to become more intelligent. But don't spend your whole life upgrading your intelligence while neglecting to upgrade your wisdom. Because while intelligence can teach you how to succeed, wisdom teaches you what success is. Intelligence might help you make a living, wisdom teaches you how to make a life. So, as you navigate this increasingly loud world we live in, remember that the loudest voice in your life usually isn't the wisest one. And the newest answer isn't always the truest. Never discount those ancient books looking down at you from a top your bookshelf, ready to answer the same questions they've been answering for, I don't know, thousands of years. Because intelligence might be changing the world, but only wisdom can change the person living in it.