He was commenting in an address to about 310 people who had graduated in person from the university, with qualifications in education, teaching and pharmacy, in a ceremony at the Regent Theatre on Saturday.
Prof Tucker, a former dean of the Otago pharmacy school, warned about the many guidelines established "for what is appropriate behaviour or thinking".
Such sets of rules for every occasion - "road maps and traffic codes for everything" - could actually "diminish trust, personal responsibility and practical wisdom".
"Practical wisdom combines experience with empathy, intellect and skill to do the right thing in the right way."
He urged graduates to strive for such wisdom, but earlier joked that all graduates forgot, or perhaps never heard, what was said in their graduation address.
As a student he had sat through several such addresses given by "very wise and erudite people", including by one leading Australian educationalist, who had undoubtedly said "very wise and important" things. But Prof Tucker had no memory of what was said.
He later noted there were now "educational drugs" as well as lifestyle and recreational drugs, and medicines for therapeutic purposes.
It had been estimated that up to a quarter of students at some US campuses had taken neuroenhancing drugs in the past year, and graduates would also face this "challenging issue" in their future careers.
One drug was said to increase alertness and "enthusiasm for studying".
An article in the prestigious journal Nature noted that safe and effective cognitive enhancers would benefit individuals and society, but such drugs could also "create or exacerbate" problems.
In pharmacy, the term "synergy" was used to describe situations where two drugs worked together to create an effect greater than the sum of their parts.
Such greater results could also be achieved when people co-operated with others in networks.
Robert Fulghum , the author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, had said one key piece of kindergarten learning was: "When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together".
Prof Tucker said traffic was "a metaphor for the problems and challenges" graduates would face and urged them to "stick together" by maintaining "networks and friendships".
