Every age has considered that it's state of knowledge was the apex, and there was nothing much further to be known. In each of those times people looked to the prevailing authorities as competent, although time demonstrated them to be otherwise.
Technology and science has advanced dramatically in the last hundred years, leading this generation in particular to believe it's leaders and institutions are more competent than ever. But could it be the reverse?
Could it be that the reason why skyrocketing medical payments are bankrupting America is because Doctors don't know how to prevent or treat much of anything despite their claims to the contrary? Could it be that new remedies such as additional vaccines, statins, prozac, and Embril are either useless or bear more risks than they do benefits?
Could it be that the incredible complexity advanced within finance and banking is a smokescreen for simple greed, emotion and incompetence? Is there any real reason for the financial calamity in which we are now mired other than bankers who don't know their job?
What can be said for the science of economics given that none of their utopian forecasts attendant with free trade has come about?
What has happened to the hard sciences of physics and astronomy when we're told that to make sense of the universe all we have to do is add 23 or so additional dimensions of existence into the equation so therefore it must be so.....
Does anyone really believe that any of the wars of the past ten years were really necessary, that anyone involved with criminal justice or national security in this country does anything that protects anyone from harm?
Could it be that what causes this to persist is the erosion in skepticism brought about by the veneer of advancing technology?