# Burn \[why doesn't it hurt?\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-why-doesnt-it-hurt/766934>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 26, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-why-doesnt-it-hurt/766934 "2016-09-26T15:21:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 25

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**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-why-doesnt-it-hurt/766934/25 "2016-09-26T22:55:30Z")

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> [@YogSothoth](#):
>
> I have a better idea. I’ll continue dispensing information until such time as I’ve been proven wrong. In this case I have. But based on what I thought I knew about 3rd degree burns, I was in a perfectly fine position to dispense medical advice.
> 
> I hate to quote him, but this illustrates perfectly the concept of “unknown unknowns”, as Donald Rumsfeld puts it. I didn’t know that I didn’t know enough about 3rd degree burns. What I did know was what I believed was correct. Given that, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t dispense advice.

Believing you’re right and actually being right are two different things. Are you a doctor? If not, you have no more reason to dispense medical advice than I do. And I’m the last person I would trust to make a diagnosis.

That’s the trouble with going on the internet for advice. You take the bad along with the good.

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