All too often, we scientists and engineers feel that we must know everything, and if we don’t, we’re somehow lacking professionally. The truth is — and you can ask my parents if you need further verification — the smartest I ever felt was when I was in middle school. My world view was pretty limited, and what I knew about the world, I understood. But by progressing through school, I learned that there was a LOT more to life than just the middle school cafeteria lunch menu. And the things that I HAD learned became only a small fraction of what I understood to make up the entire world’s knowledge.
It makes you feel a bit stupid, to say the least. But that’s what really drives science: the quest to be a little less stupid. You can read the following article, it is definitely far more eloquent than this post.