Bleeding Edge

If Common Sense lived up to its namesake, then pray-tell, why has it become so uncommon?

Say per chance you are uniquely endowed with that rarest of brains that does get this, and you are a prince amongst men, and you are endowed with specific and greatly improved knowledge that allows you to do extraordinary things, like performing neurosurgery while playing the violin like a virtuoso, or playing chess like a Master while having sex, or you are able to climb rock faces like free-styling solo while writing code on your laptop at the same time.

Indeed the so called Common Sense has become so rare — that it no longer qualifies for the moniker common. And because common sense is the manner of thought which most people are likely to utilize, identify with, and also conclude their thoughts with — that is supposed to be the case in most situations.

Well…

I am sure that you get the idea, and that is why the earlier examples give you an inkling of why the common denominator thinking of the hoi-polloi, is called common sense although it often is neither common nor sensical in any real way.

Maybe you ought to think of common sense as stating the obvious, in the most mundane way, using 500 words or less. And yet here we are, having to explore this most basic of concepts, common sense for the common man.

As you might have noticed this Bleeding Edge Blog is full of the “God is in the details” type of writing, because that is what I do here.

But there you have it, and because it is You who is supposed to have it … it being that bit of common sense, and not me, please allow me to explain this concept real careful, so you all can get it.

Here’s an example: A man is walking in the streets of Seattle and it starts to rain.

Fvckin unusual eh?

Still in this city of stoned alley cats — our man is a genius and therefore his common sense kicks in.

Once he sets the wheels in motion, he reckons that he must have forgotten his umbrella, his rain slick and his condoms, so he poses the following almost automatic syllogism into his head in order to deal with the situation of getting wet and wetter at a rapid clip.

So, as the raindrops put out his spiff, he scratches his head and he starts thinking hard the following scientific thoughts, posing pivotal questions for Civilization’s continued existence:

1) How far do I have to go?

2) Can I get there before I get drenched?

3) What alternative plans do I have if I were to to scuttle my upcoming meeting and stay put?

4) Can I get a taxi?

5) How about the bus?

6) Do I need to go undercover?

7) Or perhaps get indoors till the rain passes? (Fat chance for that).

8) Can I get a raincoat or maybe an umbrella nearby?

9) If I keep on going, I am going to get wet — so what?

10) Is it worth it going through all this rain just to get my weed?

The last answer defines a true Seattleite — because that is the greatest dilemma facing our stoner culture and the generation of potheads out there you have it.

Is is worth going out of the house to get our weed or just wait and call the Uber to have it delivered?

That is the epitaph of the great American culture of today: Fried brains and baked goods full of pot induced dreams.

And yet, as it turns out –all of the above questions and logical syllogisms represent common sense. At least in our neck of the woods.

And that’s what most people would think of, most of the time, that is, if they found themselves in Seattle facing the usual wetness. We live in a Northern Rainforest after all, so get used to it.

That’s common sense.

Now some idiotic newbies, fresh transplants to the usual Seattle situation of constant wetness coming from above, from bellow, from sideways and all around you — they think that they can escape getting wet by running through the rain…

I bet they reckon that if it’s raining — you need to run fast and in a zig-zag fashion between the raindrops so they don’t hit you… and somehow miraculously, you will stay bone dry.

Now, let us put that thinking to our scientific common sense test, and see if it works.

Now, it is certainly possible to make this type of illogical “common Sense” work. However it will work only if you are feeling some raindrops falling from the sky in the Sahel, where it might rain once every few years, but not in Seattle where it rains every time someone forgets their umbrella. And this certainly being the place with the highest number of sunglasses per person and the lowest number of umbrellas in use — this is the thought that most people would have, because that is certainly uncommon sense.

At least it is not common sense for Seattle and London — two cities that I am exceedingly familiar with as well as with the rain falling from above.

Are we clear on this?

Clear as the rain.

But here’s the kicker.

The part that most people who bemoan the lack of common sense often gloss over, is that specific knowledge beats common sense every time.

Let us now take another example from Seattle’s common sense where all the people climb mountains in their spare time — that is between tokes and spiffs and their run to the dispensary to procure more weed…

Kid you not — people get stoned and attempt to climb mountains. And our local garden variety species of stoners really can climb things. For one, they can climb out of the basement couch. Occasionally. And they also occasionally organize expeditions where they climb rock piles, rock faces and on top of one another. Mind you, when we say Seattleites climb mountains, it is a euphemism … because they are scaling nothing like real mountains, but the backyard variety of anthills, all the while claiming heroic deeds and peak conquests. Mostly they climb on social media, facebook, and tinder — whereas in reality they watch other climbers scaling those great peaks on TV, while our fellow couch surfers get baked on that most powerful of weed varieties, the “Seattle Green” that is a cross between sinsemilla buds and heroin, or so it feels to the casual observer who might imbibe of these goods for purely scientific purposes.

So the Seattle stoner climber’s almanac states clearly the following instructions: “I’m climbing this sheer rock face, I need to hug as closely to the wall as possible and hold on tight so I don’t fall.”

This is common sense.

And that is what most normal people in that situation would think most of the time … because it is an instinctive thought, and also because that is what you body will try to make you do.

However, if you ask a seasoned mountain climber — you would get a completely different answer, because they know what is required if you are to stay alive while climbing El Capitan’s vertical granite rock face in a solo expedition “naked” (devoid of safety lines).

Because the seasoned climber would automatically think that “I am climbing this sheer rock face, I need to remain vertical, with my shoulders in line with my hips, using my fingertips and toes to maintain balance and stability to create a center-of-gravity point between my body and the rock-face” and that is the logic of the situation as derived from massive experience that leads to specific knowledge acquired over tens of thousands of hours of effort working with the mountain.

And that is the difference.

Specific knowledge is not common sense.

You need to be taught to do this & it’s very difficult to overcome your native instinct to hug the wall.

And because in the first example, common sense will keep you dry or at least our of the elements, whereas in the second example, common sense will get you killed — you might as well thank me for teaching you something that might save your life one day.

Then again finding your way out of the deep weed, is not an easy thing — you might never have to use this sage advise, even if you were to remember it.

Either way, now you know and the problem is solved because “Scripta manen” and thus history will reward me in case the evolutionary impulse acts to wean out those who smoke pot and climb mountains at the same time, and there would be nobody to remember where they learned this from.

…

Hujjahhhh

…

Yours,

Dr Churchill

PS:

So, maybe, the next time you face a situation that just doesn’t seem like common sense … you can ask yourself this:

“Is that person lacking common sense, or am I lacking specific knowledge?”