Common Sense

### Cold Open

"Jason Silva: A penny saved is a penny earned. A small leak can sink a great ship. Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. You've probably heard these common sense sayings before, but what do they have in common? They're all quotes by Ben Franklin. But the thing about common sense, is that it's not all that common. Common sense is the kind of practical, everyday knowledge you share with most people. Whether it's knowing when to cross the street, what to wear to work, or deciding what to eat, Your brain is constantly making judgement calls to guide you through your daily life. This ability to think and behave in a reasonable way is what we call common sense. And it happens without you being consciously aware of it.

## Games

### Game #1: Rope Trick

Will Eric Leclerc fool your common sense?

Result: You don't believe Eric passed a rope through his neck.

So: What you see, isn't always to believe. When you notice common sense is when things don't match up.

### Game #2: Watermelon vs. Egg

What will hit the ground first when dropped from a high point?

Result: They hit the ground at the same time.

So: While it's common knowledge to some physics people that objects fall at the same time, it was widely believed until the 16th century that heavier objects fall faster until Galileo disproved the theory and gravity effects all objects the same. But why did the group feel like going with the watermelon? Because sometimes the crowd is wrong, or right.

### Game #3: Take A Guess

Can the wisdom of the crowd of 20 volunteers be right? Can someone guess how many gumballs are there?

Result: While most of the guesses are wrong, could a calculator be the answer?

#### Brain Booster:

How long would it take a supercomputer to replicate 1 second of brain activity?

* A: 40 Minutes
* B: 40 Seconds
* C :40 Milliseconds

The correct answer is A. The brain can make over 20 billion calculations a second. That's pretty fast and powerful!

So: By adding the numbers up, and taking the mean/average, he can make a better guess. The correct number of gumballs is 2447, while Aiden's guess was 2425. By taking the wrong answers that overestimate and underestimate the answer, so they cancel each other out.

### Game #4: Brain Tease

Just some riddles to test common sense.

Result: You may or may have not have gotten them right.

So: Your brain often trades facts for efficiency when presented with a problem. However, answering with past experience, may be wrong since the information may not be up to date. The mental shortcuts we take can lead common sense to nonsense! But despite its flaws, there is a reason it exists .

### Game #5: Rube Goldberg Challenge

In 30 minutes, a team of engineers & friends must build Rube Goldberg Machines while using all 25 items to make a mousetrap. Who can stretch the boundaries of common sense?

Result: While the friends failed, the engineers failed too, even though they performed better.

So: Joesph, our expert, was able to harness his uncommon sense since he's been doing this since he was six. But by using your common sense, you can open you mind and see the world in new and different ways. Common sense is dependent on where you live, but someone's else common sense could be different from yours.

##### Mini-mini-game:

Stick your tongue out and touch your nose.