Knowledge, Wisdom, and the Difference Between What Is and What We Choose to Be

Wisdom doesn’t come from knowing things. It comes from time—testing what we think we know against reality.

History proves this again and again. Humanity once “knew” the sun revolved around the Earth. It made sense. We watched it rise and set every day. Only later did we discover that our certainty was wrong. Knowledge changed. Wisdom advanced.

But not all beliefs fall into the same category.

Some claims are scientific—they describe how the physical world actually works. Others are human—they describe how societies organize themselves and what they decide is acceptable. Confusing these two is where people lose their footing.

A scientific claim is something like: The Earth orbits the sun.
A human claim is something like: Public execution is an acceptable punishment.

When societies stopped publicly executing criminals, it didn’t mean earlier cultures were “biologically wrong.” It meant humanity evolved morally. The same is true of slavery. For much of history—and across many civilizations—it was considered normal. The word “slave” itself comes from “Slav.” The Ottoman Empire practiced it. Parts of the world still do. Ending slavery wasn’t a scientific correction; it was a moral one.

These two domains—physical reality and human meaning—are not interchangeable.

Biology operates under rules. In mammals, sex is binary at the reproductive level. A human male cannot gestate a child. That isn’t ideology; it’s anatomy. Saying otherwise isn’t compassion—it’s confusion.

In nature, rare exceptions exist. Some species can change sex under extreme conditions. But exceptions do not redefine the rule. That would be like saying, “A balloon floats, therefore a person should float too.” Nature doesn’t work that way. Structure matters.

Where people go wrong is collapsing symbolic identity into physical reality.

Humans are extraordinary because we live on more than one layer of existence. We create money, nations, laws, corporations, and marriages—none of which exist in nature, yet all of which shape real life. A piece of paper has no intrinsic value, but in our world it can buy food, land, and freedom.

Gender identity lives in that symbolic layer. It can shape how a person experiences themselves and how others treat them. It does not change chromosomes, gametes, or reproductive function.

A man can’t become female in a biological sense. But society can decide to treat him as if he were in certain contexts. That is a moral and cultural choice—not a scientific one.

Confusion begins when metaphor is treated as mechanism.
When identity is demanded to override biology.
When narrative is asked to replace nature.

Wisdom is knowing which domain you’re standing in.

Nature defines what is.
Humans decide what ought to be within those boundaries.

And the moment we pretend biology is a vote, we don’t become compassionate—we become unmoored.

My rule is simple:
If it doesn’t make sense in nature, it won’t make sense in reality.

Truth is not cruel. It is grounding. And wisdom is learning how to live humanely within it.