Cultural knowledge vs individual knowledge is an interesting dichotomy to explore. Cultural knowledge has a way of distilling information into very parsimonious

Cultural knowledge vs individual knowledge is an interesting dichotomy to explore. Cultural knowledge has a way of distilling information into very parsimonious and digestible forms for individuals then to propagate. The knowledge is in some sense only stored in the hyper-individual, ie, the society, while the individuals are following their own rules (and using their own models) to interact with and make use of it. One metaphor could be the ant colony: the colony's interest is to collect food and feed its young to perpetuate itself, while the ants only know they are following pheromone trails, exploring new regions, and reacting to nutritional signals when they arrive at a source. Traditional medicine systems (Chinese, Indian/Ayurveda, etc.) work in much the same way: the mental models of its participants and practitioners do not necessarily sync up with the precise methods of action that actually "do the work" as we understand it in the Western scientific context. But the system as a whole, enacted through the collection of people who implement it, does demonstrate effective outcomes re: community health.