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The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Asimov wrote about the gap between invention and judgement for decades, and here he squeezed the worry into one sentence: knowledge piles up faster than anyone learns what to do with it. It is quoted in every argument about nuclear weapons, social media or AI, wherever a speaker wants to say technology has outrun our ethics. That it dates from 1988 and still sounds current is part of why people keep reaching for it.
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In context
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The sentence is the epigraph that opens the "Science and Society" section of Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, a 1988 collection he edited with Jason A. Shulman. Quote Investigator found that the book has 86 sections, each opening with a quotation from Asimov himself, and this one sits on page 281. It was written for the book rather than lifted from a speech, and later versions swap "life" for "society".
Sources (2)
- Quote Investigator: Science Gathers Knowledge Faster Than Society Gathers WisdomReply from Quote InvestigatorReference checked
- Wikiquote: Isaac AsimovEntry for 'The saddest aspect of life right now'Reference checked
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