The painting above is Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, by Casper Friedrich. It depicts a man standing on a precipice, gazing at the mist-covered landscape ahead of him, and taking all of it in. He seems confident that he will know where to go, standing above the fog and all of its distractions.

 

Many people view this primarily as a painting with philosophical meaning. I see it as a remarkable representation of what is necessary of every enthusiast and expert in mathematics and the sciences. Or rather, I see its contrast with what is often missing.

 

When we devote our time into these scientific fields we love, our knowledge in these fields grow. Inevitably, we believe that our capability to use this knowledge grows as well. But time and time again, we are mistaken in this belief. Simply being highly trained in our fields is not enough. We find that this knowledge does not help our decision-making on the biggest questions, but we pretend that it does. We do cost benefit analysis, and we use logic and reason. But in the end, our cost benefit analysis is often in error, and our logic is often flawed.

 

We made some decisions knowing they are destructive: take mustard gas, the atomic bomb, or the persistent use of fossil fuels. Others were made without ill intentions, but came back to spite us anyways: take the automobile, CFC spray cans, or extensive use of computers. We often ignore the elephant in the room because something else disillusioned us, because it is obscured behind a curtain of external factors, or because we just don’t care. We often wander in the sea of fog, not above it.

 

Of course, not every decision we make is detrimental. Medicine is hugely beneficial overall, and technology brings advancement, ease, and connectivity. But by using our knowledge without correct judgement, everything becomes uncertain. Do we really want to remain in the fog and simply wait to see where our footsteps take us?

 

So, whatever your interests may be, take some time honing your ability to make good decisions. Know when cost benefit analysis can apply, and when it cannot. Know when your argument is impeccable, and when it is incomplete. But the most important factor is moral worth: we need to ask, is this option more moral, more just, than other options?

 

I believe morality stands above all else, let it be economy, efficiency, or power and wealth. And morality is something more than scientific integrity. Many detrimental decisions we made were made with integrity but without morality. Which is why, even though this isn’t a platform for moral philosophy, I will let this be the message: