The Wisdom Test

What does it mean to be wise in an age of intelligent machines?

Ancient Greece distinguished practical judgment from abstract knowledge. China developed traditions of relational ethics, harmony, and restraint. India explored the difference between the activity of the mind and the awareness that observes it. Japan cultivated an attentiveness to form, absence, and the meaningful interval.

These traditions differ profoundly, yet they share a vital insight: wisdom is not the accumulation of information. It is the capacity to judge what matters, how to act, and when to leave something undone.

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, this insight has acquired new urgency. AI can recognize patterns, generate answers, and make decisions at extraordinary speed. But capability alone cannot determine whether the goal being pursued is worthwhile.

In The Wisdom Test, Jan Krikke brings these intellectual traditions into conversation with the technologies reshaping everyday life. He develops six questions for considering whether AI serves human purposes without weakening the judgment on which those purposes depend.

The result is an invitation to consider how we might live wisely alongside technology.

As machines become more intelligent, wisdom remains ours to cultivate.