Knowing what you don't know

The light flashed on my buzzer. I paused for dramatic effect before saying, “Alexander Fleming.” The crowd of parents went wild with clapping. I beamed—we had won, and I had captained our team in the primary school quarter finals of the local “Top of the Form” quiz. I had the sort of memory that retained facts easily and that passes as a type of intelligence. I am like most doctors.

A decade ago I was an evidence based medicine (EBM) “fact” groupie. I loved the wild swirling data, …