Wisdom Stories

Return to Wisdom

Stories about practical wisdom can be helpful to have in mind while working on a theory of wisdom. We're looking for stories that range from the "stupid" to the "unwise", but also stories that range from ordinary wisdom to extraordinary wisdom. We'll sort them out as we develop our theories.

Here are some examples. Add yours!

Painter's Story

As a grad student, I painted houses in the summer in the Texas heat. After one particularly long hot day, I started disassembling some scaffolding while standing on it.

The Water Heater Story

My water heater started leaking from a overflow valve. I formed a theory that the valve was operating properly and would reseat itself, even though it kept leaking. I wasn't thinking about it the right way.

At a club meeting

I was at a club meeting and someone got really excited about using some website to schedule meetings and communicate, but the person didn't consider that their enthusiasm might not be shared.

Afghanistan

I was deployed to Bagram Afghanistan and was on Tower Guard duty. Every hour you are supposed to "inspect" around the base of your tower to make sure everything is okay. Obviously the towers are around the outside of the perimeter, you are not supposed to leave for any reason unless on a mission (fyi, when the Russians left Afghanistan they mined everything, so unless it has been cleared areas are considered live minefields). A few hours into the shift one of the privates on another tower decided to "inspect" his tower, he opened one of the only gates that left the base and started walking through a live minefield. Luckily someone was running by who knew this and got him to stop where he was. They called EOD (like the guys from Hurt Locker) and got him back safely.