Is Lineage vital?

Lineage is important to teaching by gurus and the succession of teaching because it helps ensure that the teaching is complete and intact, and that the teachers are sincere. One must be granted permission to teach by one's Guru, which means that by using Induction, we can see that all lineages must go back to the Buddha himself. But I wonder, in the modern world, if this has not become irrelevant? Any person can find the teachings now, in various translations, and so the issue falls on that person to determine what they feel is legitimate. Modern people are unlikely to become monks, and I have never seen any definitive statement that laypeople never can achieve enlightenment (rather the opposite). One need not join a community, follow a guru or even know another person with the same 'theories' to practice and make progress. So, is lineage still important? Can we not fix down a translation of the books, make them public, offer opportunities for retreats or guidance and just allow people to choose and go forward for themselves? There is no particular lineage in science, even if some persons are well-regarded and often referred to. Anyone with access to a library could become a Physicist, regardless what schools they go to, or whom the teachers studied under. The knowledge is the guru, not a person. In fact, the Buddha said, "Be ye lamps unto yourselves." Is this not what he meant?