It should be no surprise that a huge amount the knowledge that we all carry in our heads bears very little resemblance to reality. Our first-hand knowledge of the world is adulterated by our own sloppy memory systems and emotional filters. The reliability of the second-hand knowledge we have is orders of magnitude more suspect. Imagine the chain of intermediaries between you and quantum mechanical physics: theorists suggest experiments (based on work by other scientists) that must be designed by engineers, the results of which are gathered and interpreted by scientists, written up in dense papers, published in journals, read by professors, taught to grad students, explained to journalists, edited by their supervisors, published in hardcovers and finally read by your smartest friend who explains it to you as best as he can.

There’s a lot of room for misinterpretations or flat-out errors in that process. Even with no errors, how does the knowledge survive a whittling down process like that and bear any resemblance to the initial translation of the raw result by the smartest physicist on Earth?!

Physics is a field of knowledge that we are taught is in a constant state of rethought. New ideas have challenged old ones–and bested them!–throughout history. In retrospect, the previous theory always seems laughable. But within generational eras, ideas get stubborn. A challenge to common knowledge is not taken lightly.

The same is true for almost any other area of knowledge: architecture, finance, nutrition, transportation and especially medicine. A new documentary called House of Numbers challenges common knowledge about HIV/AIDS:

In House of Numbers, an AIDS film like no other, the HIV/AIDS story is being rewritten. This is the first film to present the uncensored POVs of virtually all the major players; in their own settings, in their own words. It rocks the foundation upon which all conventional wisdom regarding HIV/AIDS is based. House of Numbers could well be the opening volley in a battle to bring sanity and clarity to an epidemic gone awry.