[CLIP]
> Back to Hakeeb's post:
> > dribble he writes seems to fall under the category of what I've come to
> > know as "common sense". No offense Mr. Brodie, but the above statement
> > seem pretty obvious to me and I would venture that if someone needs to
> > be "taught" this then no amount of readin' and schoolin' is going to
> > bring them around.
This misses the point of the transition from level-2 to level-3.
The hypothesis [someone needs to be "taught" this] is never satisfied,
because explicit instruction would simply reinforce level-2, no matter
how well-worded.
As such, it is equally valid to write:
'I would venture that if someone needs to be "taught" this, that one
minute's reading would bring them around.'
[Yes, I'm waffling around the word "false".]
> May I suggest that there is an incredibly tyranical meme at work here.
>
> Common sense is the most cynical, judgement ridden, manipulative concept
> around. (hyperbole is a close second)
>
> We are taught from an early age to identify common sense. We are asked
> why we didn't use it, but we rarely take the time to actually obtain it.
> What is common about common sense? There is no common sense. It's too
> braod a paintbrush to be used in a discussion of memes.
>
> Second meme: and no amount of _______ (fill in blanks) and _________ is
> going to bring them (replace with group of your choice) around.
>
>
> Both are effective in shutting people up.
As far as I can tell empirically:
The meme "common sense" has no physical/ideological/etc. instantiations,
in the Chomsky-definition sense. The use of this meme has two very obvious
effects:
It usually is used to create guilt.
It usually amplifies egotism in the invoker.
Attempted instantiations of "common sense" are highly likely [>90%] to
suffer from one of the following traits:
1) It was learned by education.
2) It is verifiably false.
3) It is verifiably an uncommon belief.
Thus, attempted instantiations of "common sense" usually violate the
Chomsky-definition of "common sense"
As such, I prefer to expunge this meme from my vocabulary.
[Oh, improvised word 'Chomsky-definition': Definition by taking the
definitions of the component words and integrating. Phenomenally
effective in the sciences, and why Latin is recommended for boosting
vocabulary. Not that I have any literacy in Latin.]
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
/
/ Kenneth Boyd
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////