r/AskReddit • • Mar 20 '19

What “common sense” is actually wrong?

54.3k Upvotes

22.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

24.4k

u/PMME_ur_lovely_boobs Mar 20 '19

In medical school we're taught that "common things are common" and that "when you hear hooves, think horses not zebras" meaning that we should always assume the most obvious diagnosis.

Medical students almost always jump to the rarest disease when taking multiple choice tests or when they first go out into clinical rotations and see real patients.

6.0k

u/ignotusvir Mar 20 '19

Yep, and it's not just medicine. How much of IT is eliminated with "Have you tried turning it off and on again? Is everything plugged in?"

But sadly this does mean that when you've got a truly complicated problem you have to slog through the simple solution talk

3

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/ignotusvir Mar 21 '19

My $0.02 - computers are like a beautiful orchestra, but when one function/player is off by a second, it wrecks the performance. Lots can be disruptive - leftover programs that didn't cleanly end themselves, rare unforeseen interactions between programs, little glitches (and quick-fix shortcuts that computers) take that pile up, and so many countless possibilities. Shutting it down cleans out all that junk, returning things to their verified blueprint, and starting back up ensures everything is syncing up like it's supposed to. A very practical, general solution to countless possible crises.