Most of the negative effects were physical, such as the sheer drudgery of the heavy labor or injuries associated with the treadle pumps. The gains outweighed the pains. Even positive advances in knowledge can challenge a truly moral society. Each new scientific discovery creates certainty in its own limited field, exposing the need for further knowledge, and thus indirectly attacking what was previously known. Thus science is not a substitute for traditional sources of enlightenment.
More harm is done by insufficient knowledge than by the search for more of it.
The values that educational systems seek to advance differ from country to country, and among cultures and communities as well. In East Asia, according to another study carried out at the PBRC, most educational systems approximate the Japanese model, which emphasizes industrial and human resource development, in contrast to social security and related policies that are associated with the Western European welfare state. The Japanese model assigns priority to values of rectitude, respect, and loyalty, above those of well-being, skill, and enlightenment. Even imperfect approximate judgments, based on studies of curriculum structure and resource allocations, illustrate the different ways in which states develop and apply knowledge for the benefit of their citizens. The accumulation of knowledge is usually beneficial even when it is pursued with no immediate goal in mind.