That's a fantastic analogy! I suppose the analogy in medicine would be to have this "medical hacker" mentality where you just go and do things, all the while l

That's a fantastic analogy! I suppose the analogy in medicine would be to have this "medical hacker" mentality where you just go and do things, all the while learning. First you start with leeches, then you develop your own theory or four humours, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism, then you figure out there was this guy called Hippocrates who had lots of great ideas about medicine which you should totally read, but hey, who has the time nowadays, so you just skim through a blogpost with the summary of the most interesting tidbits. You keep hearing the name "Pasteur" and the "germ theory of disease" which sounds mildly intimidating. Instead, make your own plague doctor mask with a organic herbs as a safekeep. That'll keep the germs away. People think your plague doctor mask is really cool in instagram and you become moderately famous. People start asking medical advice from you. They keep mentioning something called "vaccines", which sounds really convenient. You read an obscure reference about primitive vaccination to smallpox and decide that's a great idea. You start scratching yourself with random things you find in the street to increase your "resistance" to all ills. You create a blog around this cool concept of "resistance" and invite other people to scratch themselves. Someone dies from infection and you say they just can't use the tool right.... etc. I presume the protagonist will eventually reach modern medicine if he's alive still, but it would be so much more convenient for all parties if he had become familiar with established standards before starting to share his ideas with the greater public.