Below is a link to one of my favorite SNL skits of all time: Theodoric, Barber of York. It's from one of the first seasons, with Steve Martin in his prime playing the starring role as the village barber/doctor. Have you seen it? It's brilliant!
For the longest time, I thought it was merely a good-natured rant against the arrogance of doctors - "Now, who's the barber here?" Theodoric admonishes one of his hapless patients before yet another bloodletting.
Ah, but it's so much more. This skit is an admonition to all experts, thought leaders, and gurus to tread carefully. What we knowledge specialists take as gospel today may be just as flawed as what we used to think was certain a few years ago.
The next time someone insists they have a monopoly on the truth, be afraid: be very afraid.
We humans do our best. Our best is often very good. Indeed, all of the progress we've made from Theodoric's time until the present day - even just from 1975 - is because we took what we knew and acted upon it.
But it's also because we questioned what we were told was irrefutable. We tested what the experts told us. Those who questioned orthodoxy most thoroughly became our new experts (at least for a while).
The next time someone insists there's a small toad in your belly causing your company's profits to dip, and laughs at past experts who told you the cause was demonic possession, think of Theodoric - and avoid that guru's prescription for another round of bloodletting!
Me? I'll take "reasonably sure" versus Insistently Right every time!
Watch Theodoric here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/3529/saturday-night-live-theodoric-of-york
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