Common Sense: Why is it so Uncommon?

This essay is a further elaboration on the concept of "common sense" that I wrote about in "Common Sense". This is a difficult subject to discuss as it is another one of those concepts which is in very common use but has no precise definition or may have different meanings to different people. Nevertheless, I will try to define it in terms of, what I believe to be, what most understand it to mean. To further clarify the meaning, I will go into some detail with examples and related material.

For completeness, I will repeat the small amount of material already covered in the general introduction.

"I despise philosophy, and renounce its guidance -- let my soul dwell with common sense."
-- Thomas Reid, 1764

Common Sense: An Endangered Species?

Before we examine this question, let's first try to agree on a definition. According to my dictionary, the definition is:

sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.

I would expand "normal native intelligence" to include an analytical ability. People with common sense tend to work problems out in real time by the application of simple reasoning.

So, let us examine my insinuation that common sense is becoming a scarce commodity. First off, I suspect that the amount of common sense in use by people has varied much over history and over the various societies. Common sense flourishes when there is ample opportunity for individualism and free expression. Common sense is not going to be very widespread in an environment in which government and/or religion determines the activities of ordinary individual's lives. Such situations have existed most of the time throughout history.

In the last few hundred years, individualism has flourished in the USA and other industrial nations. Common sense, analytical abilities, creative solutions, self-reliance, etc. all flourished during this period.

Unfortunately, with the advent of the "New Deal" of the nineteen thirties in the USA (and similar growth of government social programs world wide), the subsequent trends for limitation of self-reliance and an increasing dependence on the government, and the "other-directed" approach to life promoted by the educational institutions and the press, common sense has rapidly become a scarce resource.^[1]

Why Memes are Winning out over Common Sense

"We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in their place."--Daniel Boorstin

Memes and common sense don't get along very well. Common sense does not provide the warm cozy homeplace in our minds that memes need and appreciate. When there's too much common sense, a bunch of memes are going to get evicted! To avoid this problem, memes will adapt -- possibly by creating more special memes to eliminate common sense. For example, a very popular meme that has been very effective is the belief my ordinary people that being intelligent and studious is something to be ashamed of. This one is real tough on students.

So common sense has retreated, like a dog with its tail between it legs, to a back corner of our minds where it is still alive but is mostly silent.

Before we go any further, I wish to make clear that describing memes as if they had a mind of their own is simply an artifice used to convey the ultimate effect (a technique commonly used by authors discussing memes and genes). It is much easier to use this technique rather than having to constantly explain how memes evolve and spread.

Memetic Suppression of Common Sense

Memes must suppress or destroy common sense because the application of common sense would eradicate most of the awful memes that are doing so much damage to our society. The meme that says that government can somehow magically create money to pay for any social inconvenience, however slight, could be eradicated by common sense. The meme that some folks tried to establish that there is no difference between men and women has not done real well up against common sense (but the battle is not over yet).

So, we have memes specifically created to destroy the use of common sense. The most common one is that common sense cannot be trusted. This meme tells us that the intricacies of social science, economics, politics, etc. are just too complex for a straightforward application of common sense. The average person just doesn't have the technical background to evaluate these things, we are told. There may be some truth to that, but the cost of letting others decide these issues with your blind acceptance is far greater than the cost of you doing your own careful, not necessarily expert, analysis.

The religious based meme that says you should never question the "teachings" but simply rely on blind faith is an attempt to squash any use of common sense. Finally, the powerful memes residing in the minds of our young folks that promotes conformity and to disparage excellence or individualism by anyone has the effect of suppressing common sense thinking and promoting the acceptance of the mind-numbing memes.

Memes offer an Escape from Complexity

Primitive man could not comprehend the powerful forces of the natural world. Common sense was inadequate to provide an explanation since it lacked the basic tools needed for analysis. The religious memes were established to satisfy this need for explanation. "The gods sent the thunder and the winds that destroyed the village because there was evil in the village", is what they believed. The fact that even primitive man needed an explanation and that there had to be a cause and effect relationship gives evidence that the human being is a logical animal, unlike the rest of the animal kingdom which apparently has no such needs.

Then, not too long ago on the evolutionary scale, science and logic came along which offered the basics needed by common sense to provide an alternative explanation. The problem with the religious explanation of our world is that its predictive ability was notoriously inaccurate. Even when you followed all the rules, offered sacrifices, prayed your butt off, etc., your shelter still got zapped by lightning. Science turned out to be infinitely more reliable. Science could, for example, quite impressively predict the movements of the moon, stars, and planets which religion could not.

For the last few hundred years, science has become more acceptable to mankind and common sense has made great progress over the memetic approach. Unlike religion, science has delivered on its promises. The use of memes to explain the complex world around us seemed to be on its way out.

But tragedy struck! In modern times, common sense is on the decline and memes are back stronger than ever. What happened?

Unfortunately, science also has failed in the goal of explaining the mysteries of the world around us. More correctly, our mental ability to comprehend the necessary scientific explanations is apparently inadequate. The world has become very complex and our minds just may not have the ability to comprehend it, no matter what tools we may be offered. In the relatively simple world that primitive man lived in, a religious explanation was often adequate. In today's complex world, it falls far short of that result.

Today, we humans have no satisfactory explanation of much of the activity around us. Both technology and societal phenomena are too complex for the normal human. Memes have quickly stepped forward to fill the void. This time, the memes are not just limited to the religious variety.

You might want to read the essay, "The Belief Engine", which goes into more detail on the conflicts between beliefs and critical thinking.

Memes Offer an Escape from Intimidation

Complexity is intimidating. It could be embarrassing to admit that we can't program our VCR and we don't understand how our automobile works. So, we have developed memes to alleviate this embarrassment in a few different ways. The most useful is the meme that says, "I don't really give a hoot about understanding all this complicated stuff and anyone that does is a dweeb.". Other memes that help are memes that offer simpler explanations such as the religious memes discussed above. We have educated people, in respected news media, discussing astrology as if it were a real science, "new-age" solutions such as crystals and herbs, all kinds of psychiatric baloney, and other nonsense on a routine basis. Modern times have provided a variety of memetic solutions to the complexities of modern life.

Common Sense is not Politically Correct

Common Sense takes it's biggest hit from the "Politically Correct" meme cluster. Let's look at the sequence that the Young Impressionable Mind (YIM) goes through. A situation happens wherein an action must be taken. Common Sense says to do "A". But Political Correctness says to do "B". What is the YIM to do? Initially, the YIM might try common sense. He, for example, might say, "Wow, that girl's sexiness is driving me crazy. I think I will tell her how incredibly sexy she is and how much I would like to bed down with her". He is warned that this will not pass muster in the Politically Correct world. But this time he follows Common Sense. And what a mess of trouble he gets into! So, he quickly concludes, perhaps subconsciously, that following common sense can get you into a lot of trouble, but sticking to the Politically Correct party line will get you by with, admittedly, not quite as much fun. In this way, common sense, or let us just say, thinking for yourself, is suppressed.

Of course this is not unique to the Politically Correct paradigm but also includes other meme based influences such as religion, etc. Violation of any of these memes usually results in a social penalty to pay -- sometimes very severe.

• Turning off Memes and Turning on Common Sense

  "If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things." - Rene Descartes Principles of Philosophy

  Our extreme propensity to depend on memes must have a genetic basis. That is, memes must have helped us survive at one time (for a good discussion on this, see Brodie's book, Virus of the Mind). When humans started organizing into communities, when life started to get complicated, genes could not adapt fast enough to handle the situation. The priests and the political leaders probably created simple customs and mores that made it easier to get along and to survive the complex situations. Those that were receptive to these cultural ideas most likely had a better survival rate than those who did not. The meme-receptive human evolved because memes made life easier for those who were receptive to meme programming. So far, so good.

  But now -- just when we have evolved into a highly meme-receptive being -- a serious glitch has developed: memes no longer are created by a trusted community leader who has the community's interest at heart, but are created in volume by external persons who are not motivated by our community's interest but by their own selfish agenda.

  So, now what do we do? First, let me address what not to do! And that is, what everyone is doing -- replace one bad meme with another. We go from "Smoking is cool and sexy" to "Anyone that smokes is evil and should be put away". We go from a ridiculous state in which women must deny having any sexual feelings whatsoever to the present situation where young girls become sexually expert before they can drive a car (ride a bicycle?). We see how farmers who were once fiercely independent and proudly self-sufficient have now become totally dependent on the largesse of the government.^[2]

  No, what we need to do is junk virtually all the meme baggage our heads are full of and go back to basic logical thinking. There is not much we can do about all the memes that we are force fed as we are growing up. But why, when we turn 21, can we not stop and say; "Hold on, I am going to personally and privately examine every belief system in my mind and some that aren't, and decide for myself what is worth keeping and what should go in the trash can"? What would be wrong with that? Why, after we are adults, do we so fervently defend ideas that were crammed in our heads when we were children, and we have never done any analysis on whatsoever?

  Who says you have to be a Republican just because your parents were? Why don't you examine the political spectrum yourself and decide for yourself? Who says you have to be a Methodist just because your family is of that persuasion? Why not look at the religious offerings like you would shop for a new car and decide for yourself which one, or possibly none, makes sense to you? Are you afraid? Do you not realize that your fear is just another meme working?

  Give logical thinking, rational thought, common sense a chance. It could be difficult but it is not impossible. It is difficult because your thinking process itself, your values that you will to make judgements, your view of the world, have all been severely contaminated by memes. But if you stick to logic, flawed thinking will be exposed. Contradictions will surface. And when they do, don't rationalize -- that is just another meme working.

  But even before you do that, maybe you need to decide whether you want to live a purposeful, meaningful, rational life or not. To help you make that decision I have another paper on line, "Rational: To be or not to be?".

  Barricading Against the Influx of Memes ( Examples?)

  The next time you hear some clueless actor pretending to be a TV news-person blathering at you that "Since it is 14 degrees below zero today, you should dress warmly before you go out" or "If a person calls you offering to sell you the State of Nebraska for $9,987, you should read all the fine print before you sign the deal", and so on, try to think about how that maybe you could handle these problems by yourself. Further, try to think about the fact that this person probably is no more informed than you are. Close your eyes and ears to this nonsense and practise handling most of life's problems, that are personal to you, yourself. Exercise of the brain is just like exercise of the body -- it is good for you. It will develop capabilities that you might need when the TV person or the government person or the police or the preacher is not there to help (ha!) you. Which is the case more than not.

  Seek the Truth

  I have tried to avoid the use of the term truth, as that term seems to have been co-opted by the TV preachers, New Age promoters and politicians. For now, I will just provide a link to pertinent discussions of this difficult and abused term. A useful, but easy to read, start would be "The Search for Truth, and its Consequences for Problem Solving" by Lloyd Peppard.

Notes

The main effect of farm programs is to force farmers to do inefficiently what they would have done efficiently without subsidies, to force Americans to pay more for food, to drive up the price of farmland and to squander pointlessly tens of billions of dollars a year. . . The issue is not whether the United States will have ample food in the future, but whether politicians will continue controlling American Aagriculture.

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