Rules vs Wisdom.
My take on this debate is that we as a society have become dependent on rules at the cost of wisdom. I forget who studied this, but there is a video on the interenet about his findings and thoughts on the subject. I don't remember enough to quote directly, but this the general gist of it.
The more we rely on rules, the less wisdom we excercise. Just as the exercise of wisdom means knowing that "the rules" are not the path to correct action but merely guides to help us on our way.
For example. In our current law, a boy who just turned 17, and a girl who is 16, but merely two weeks away from her birthday would constitute rape by that boy on the girl. Now they are only two months apart in age, and had they had sex a day before his birthday, it would be considered consensual sex. Now, the rules state, that in this example the boy should be arrested and sentenced to years in jail.
Is this wise? does it make
sense? of course not. But similar things HAVE occurred because people felt they had to follow the rules. Lives were ruined in the process.
This is just one example. Life is full of them.
And so is science. There is no room for wisdom in science. Thus the scientist, following the rules of science, says nothing about THE WISE CHOICE-THE WISE PATH, simply because science has nothing to say about wisdom.
So, we have a PV. Wisdom tells us, the greater good IS served, that they ARE safe, and that the word SAFE does apply. Walking can kill you as well, but we wouldn't call walking a dangerous activity. Same for showering. To call something safe does not require that every possible variant be known. Merely that it falls within the parameters of what we consider to be "normally" safe.
Secondly, if any doubt remains. Science has told us many many things weer safe, and they were studied extensively, only to find that they were, after all, dangerous. Just look at the level of modern drug recalls to confirm that.
As far as I am concerned there is a reason why our western society is in such a dismal state- and its the total abandonment of wisdom for rules that deadened our ability to make good decisions.