Is Common Sense actually common??

[theCryptofishist]

I really like Einstein's definition, which I will paraphrase as the sum total of everything you learn before you're 18. Which means that it often unexamined knowledge.
I also think that in the phrase "common" isn't in the sense of "frequent" but in the sense of something everybody holds in common. I think it's a social thing--contains all the unspoken assumptions of the culture in question. Therefore, one group of people can think "spare the rod, spoil the child" qualifies, and another holds that as barbarism.

[ygmir]

Awwww... don't be too hard on the young'uns.
Calves are goofy.
Foals are goofy.
Puppies are goofy.
Kittens are goofy.
Chicks are goofy...

You see a pattern here? It does seem like the young'uns are taking longer to mature, tho.
Course, what do I know... I still believe in Peter Pan.

but little lambs eat ivy..........

[FIGJAM]

Therefor right and wrong cannot exist out of context.

Right thinking is established by custom?

[theCryptofishist]

I don't know about that. I do think that when people talk about "common sense" they are usually talking about a very specific, subjective thing.

[FIGJAM]

Is'nt that what I just said?

[theCryptofishist]

I didn't like the term "right thinking" because I don't know how squishy or rigid it is.

[ygmir]

how can subjective be specific?

[theCryptofishist]

It's consistent in the people who have that particular world view, but it's not chosen by objective criteria.

[ygmir]

ah, boldly subtle.

[FIGJAM]

That's what I ment.

Right or wrong is not an absolute.

So it comes down to values as it is to the individual.

Right or wrong comes down to what are you comfortable with.

There is no universal right or wrong.

[171/348]

This is a topic near and dear to my heart. And yes, I'm one of those who believes that common sense has become increasingly uncommon in our spoon fed society.
However, this is not exactly why I'm here (at least not this time)... Or maybe it is the more I think about it.

So I have this friend at work who likes to tell me things like, "You don't have any common sense." And, "You're too smart for your own good." But then says stuff like this two or three times more frequently, "How did you figure that out?" "How do you know how to do all this stuff?" We have a job where we tinker with a lot of things and have to make stuff work when it wasn't designed well or thought through in any way or sometimes make a lot of shit fit in a little space or safely move something big or... Isn't being able to do that sort of thing using common sense?

Remote controls. I have a little Yosemite Sam moment when people say they can't figure out how to use the remote control. Common sense says two things to me when I look at someone else's remote; They are basically all the same so I already know how to use such a device and hey look at that, the buttons are freakin labeled!

Ok, so we're supposed to be here to share common sense tips and tricks, yes?
When you are siphoning gas out of your parents car to use in your minibike, no matter how tempting it may be, don't hook the siphon hose onto the air hole of your gas can and use a vacuum cleaner to provide suction on the spout hole.
And for cripes sake, no matter what you do... Don't do that with one of those 1970's tube style canister vacs and, I can not stress this part enough, DO NOT lay said vacuum across your lap while you work.

[FIGJAM]

They make nice impromptu jet engines, don't they?

[Mrpatatomoto]

I don't believe its so much that common sense is dead but that people don't take the time to use it. As was said before people have been taught that most any problem you have can be made into someone else's so whats the point of putting in the effort to either not cause the problem or fix it themselves. A good example of lack of common sense is putting up a tent, I know people who will stand and look at one for two hours then sleep in their car because they couldn't figure out how to put it up, And I mean a basic tent, not complicated insert pole B into connector C ones.

Things like checking for gas leaks with a lighter is only dumb if you don't know what to do when you find one.