In this section I describe a variety of case studies in which the enormous power of authority rests in the individual hands of so-called experts, or in the hands of the common beliefs that are held by groups of so-called experts. The consequences for either advancing the innovation of new technology and understanding or the formation of barriers to invention, discovery, and innovation are discussed. The case studies vary from theoretical physics, to medical therapies, to neurosurgeries, to new models of infectious diseases, to the discovery of quasicrystals, and ends with the struggles of women in science and technology.