The final mistake of René Descartes

"Human wisdom remains always one and the same, although it is applied to diverse objects. It is just as unchangeable by their diversity as sunlight is by the diversity of the objects it illuminates," Descartes wrote. Wrong! Wisdom is not always one and the same. Descartes's great philosophical and mathematical wisdom was not matched by his intrapersonal, geographical and health-related wisdom. That is why he substituted his:

• native France with icy Sweden,
• lying around until noon with getting up at 4 a.m.,
• free philosophical reflections and discussions with the structured work of a royal "servant" (teacher),

for which he paid with his life, dying at the age of 54.

How many more important things would have Descartes created had he exercised his great wisdom to politely decline the Queen of Sweden's offer to give her math lessons at dawn!