This lucid manifesto warns of the risk in biology and in science as a whole of dismissing too readily the minority viewpoint simply to facilitate the emergence of consensus. The temptation is great he explains, because once consensus is reached, funding for research follows. The author traces the evolution of unilateral thinking from early scientific theorizing to today and shows why we are shooting ourselves in the foot. He gives examples in specific areas such as cancer and aging, where were it not for consensus thinking, breakthroughs would be imminent.