See post #51. It is a term I would rarely use. If you are unable to say of a person that they have intelligence, understanding, experience, or qualifications, you are reduced to falling back on saying that all they have is "common sense". Which is quite an insult really, thus not often appropriate. I don't know what you mean by the common conscience of society. Are you referring to public opinion?
For me it's more than that, I guess it's bringing into it the morals and values again, as well as public opinion if they can be separated. However my moral compass is different from others due to life experience etc; upon reflection I like your definition and ideas as well as boots.
I agree Glidd, but you and I and one or two others on here have it; I haven't made up my mind about Pete .
There is also a tendency to base a decision upon the best possible outcome whereas Game Theory would suggest basing a decision upon avoiding the worst possible downside.
Sometimes you have to make a decision even though you lack information about and understanding of the matter in question. So you just take a stab at it and hope for the best. Afterwards maybe you can try to justify what you did by claiming it was based on "common sense".
TBH, most decisions involve future outcomes. Clearly they do, that is what you are deciding. To make the right decision involves, therefore, the ability to see into the future. No one can really do that. All you can do is compute a probability in your head as to what the likely outcome is going to be, but you will often be wrong. Being wrong is just part of being human. The media are very quick to point out whenever anyone got it wrong and then seek someone to blame, but this is just entertainment. If you make enough decisions, some will be wrong. If you're frightened of being wrong, you won't ever decide or change anything and may as well spend your life in bed. Nearly every decision made is made on the basis of imperfect information. Sometimes it's worth having a lot of it before deciding, sometimes suck-it-and-see works just as well (or a lot better, as it's quicker). Common sense is just commonly held, aggregated experience. It will tell you things like: if you constantly drive in town at 70 mph, sooner or later you will either have an accident, or be nicked. Or, if you get on crowded Tube trains with a £50 note sticking out of your trousers, you can reasonably expect it to disappear, sooner rather than later. But you will still find people who would be surprised at both these outcomes. Common sense here may be common, but it's not 100% shared. Nothing ever is (which is what makes the world an interesting place).
Most of the time an expert just knows things to be so. Hence the frustration with the current trend of documenting every decision and risk assessing getting out of bed, not that I am saying there is no place for the dreaded RA. Sometimes it all goes spectacularly wrong, but that is life.
I came close to death when I cut through a 750V cable with some bolt croppers when I was working on the demo. Gaffer told me to cut this bundle of cables, which were mostly comms twisted pair bundles. However there was a 750V cable underneath them. I can only think as I was standing on all the other cut cables that I was somehow insulated. Blew the croppers teeth to fuckery. Like someone had just melted a great big hole through them. Big blinding light too AND the gaffer took the money for new teeth out of my wages the tight fecker. I had a long sit down after that and quite a few fags.
BBC Radio 4 - Bookclub, Henry Marsh - Do No Harm Programme on BBC Radio 4 - Sunday 7 June at 4.00 pm.
I have just been reading Admissions, the second volume by Henry Marsh (Orion Books 2017 £16.99 hardback). Just as good as vol 1. https://www.ft.com/content/4c49bbaa-46de-11e7-8d27-59b4dd6296b8
It seems that your friend was a worthy beneficiary of a gong. I might even get a copy of his book. Not so for a great many others - Cameron bestowed 48 of his staff with honours, and added his wife Samantha’s stylist for good measure in his resignation list. Certainly not worthy in my book.
