I ran a workshop for "Connecting for Health" yesterday, and someone gave me this little story, entitled "A classic example of knowledge in practice". They have no physicians, but when a man is ill, they lay him in the public square, and the passers-by come up to him, and if they have ever had his disease or have known anyone who has suffered from it, they give him advice, recommending him to do whatever they found good in their own case, or in the case known to them; and no one is allowed to pass the sick man in silence without asking him what his ailment is.

Histories of Herodotus: A history source of Persian Empire of Achaemenian era. Herodotus (c. 484-225 BC); Translated by: George Rawlinson. Connecting for HealthConnecting for Health

In our "knowledge-sharing civilisation" I wonder whether we have the equivalent of too many physicians, no public square, a lack of passers-by or just a lack of intellectual compassion?