What are some examples of 'common sense' which are nonsense?

[i_miss_daniel@lemmy.world]

In the case of inverter air conditioning it might make a small difference at it won't throttle down as it approaches the intended, not commanded, target.

[none_dc@lemmy.world]

"Bigger is better"

[j4k3@lemmy.world]

I was going with Rayleigh scattering, but that works too

[eiri@lemmy.ca]

Isn't that true, all other things being equal?

[spyro@lemmy.world]

The gambler’s fallacy is pretty easy to get, as is the Monty Hall problem if you restate the question as having 100 doors instead of 3. But for the life of me I don’t think I’ll ever have an intuitive understanding of the birthday problem. That one just boggles my mind constantly.

[vanth@reddthat.com]

Pressing the crosswalk button over and over will make the light change faster.

[mentaledge@sopuli.xyz]

For real.

Looking up how almost any potentially deadly disease attacks a human body just makes you "how tf do you beat that".

The answer is usually just "your immune systems kills it faster than it kills you" and that ain't some sure-fire defense. It's a straight up microbiological war happening inside you.

[angelmountain@feddit.nl]

Related to gambling: being "pot committed"

[quentincallaghan@sopuli.xyz]

Another variation of that is claiming how getting sick repeatedly is somehow beneficial for getting a strong immune system. That ignores research, as children who have a lot of common infections early in life have higher risk of moderate to severe infections and antibiotic use throughout childhood. That also ignores viruses for which a durable immunity isn't currently possible, such as COVID.

[leeks@lemmy.world]

that putting the thermostat up higher will heat the house up quicker

If you have a 2 stage furnace, this may actually be a thing.

[mentaledge@sopuli.xyz]

Depends.

Compound bows are designed such that you put in a LOT of energy where your mechanical advantage is high (at the start of the draw) then less as your mechanical advantage diminishes (at the end of the draw).

This makes the bow very "light" to pull and easy to hold drawn, but the energy with which the arrow will be fired is higher than almost any other design, save some cross-bows.

[modeler@lemmy.world]

Umm, it's your immune system that detects the vaccine and responds to it by developing antibodies specific to the vaccine (and by extension to the actual disease). Just as it would when challenged in real life by the pathogen.

Vaccination basically gives your immune system a several day head start on producing antibodies.

[grumpyduckling@sh.itjust.works]

That means you ahould take the immesiate payoff or be happy with what you have instead of spensing a bunch of time trying to get more.

[grumpyduckling@sh.itjust.works]

Sometimes buttons don't work the first time you press them.

[naught101@lemmy.world]

Less tax is better.

No saying that taxation as it currently exists it optimal, but any decent assessment of how to improve things requires a lot of nuance that is nearly never considered by most people.

[naught101@lemmy.world]

Really? The birthday problem is a super simple multiplication, you can do it on paper. The only thing you really need to understand is the inversion of probability (P(A) = 1 - P(not A)).

The Monty hall problem... I've understood it at times, but every time I come back to it I have to figure it out again, usually with help. That shit is unintuitive.

[sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works]

This is actually good common sense. It works much more than 50% of the time. You're responding to the very specific instance of anti-vaxxers, whose claims of relying on the immune system instead of vaccines are not considered common sense by most people.

[sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works]

that your base metabolic rate slows as you age and is primarily responsible for you putting weight on in middle age

Is this not true?

[sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works]

I think we know it doesn't help, but we do it anyway.

[i_miss_daniel@lemmy.world]

Hehe ok I'll wear those down votes. I didn't understand the reference as I heard it first on The Two Ronnies as 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the shepherd's bush' which I think think might be a carry-on reference.

I didn't see why l would want a bird in my hand in the first place.