The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing      Socrates (469-399 BC)

A friend sent me a coffee mug. The logo said “Why do you think your 5 minutes on Google trumps my 5 years of medical school” . I laughed and mentally added "and my 6 years of postgraduate training, my research doctorate and my 25 years of practice?”  But then I reflected on how generally the internet has contributed to a decline in the valuing of specialty training, academic knowledge and professional expertise. It’s not just medicine or science but in every trade or professional arena. 

The scary part for me is that without the knowledge  to understand or integrate specific information correctly,  or the judgement to evaluate the authenticity of the data, it is easy to spread information that is wrong or just plain dangerous. That “SHARE” button makes it so easy.

As someone with a "curious mind" that has made me a lifetime researcher, when I encounter something of interest I love to burrow down the rabbit  hole of references and sources, to see where the original  statement came from. Often I find that there is no actual source data - just a statement that has been passed on  from one person to another, often  exaggerated or  distorted  along the way. Remember the game of "Broken Telephone” - whispering a message, round a circle to see how it differently it comes out?

One specially egregious form of abuse of the power of the internet is the “review” of a company, a business or a product where assertions of wrongdoing  or personal attacks are made, with no facts offered in support, and there is no way of ascertaining who the complainant is or what personal axe to grind lies behind their bad review. For my part if I can’t evaluate the credibility of the person or make some form of assessment about their qualifications, I don’t bother to read further.

One  fascinating example of uncritical reposting is a story repeated  over and over in blogs and magazine articles as “proof” of the power of the mind alone to fight cancer. This is the strange case of Mr. Wright and the orange-sized tumours cancer that melted away  and re-appeared over a few day. Read about it in tomorrow’s post.