DNA Hardwired: A Pocket Guide on Common Sense

By James Knuckles

DNA...

HARDWIRED...

A Pocket Guide on

Common sense

James Knuckles

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887938684

Book preview

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DNA Hardwired

A Pocket Guide on Common Sense

James Knuckles

Copyright © 2023 James Knuckles

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88793-866-0 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88793-868-4 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Philosophy

Common Sense Origins

Perception or Belief versus Reality

Intelligence

Ignorance

Mental Illness/Mental Health Disorders

Feelings

Religion

Politics

Racism

Relationships

Communication

Parenting

Humanity… Don’t Stop Your Human… Embrace It!®

Life

Values

Money/Finances

Everyday Violators of the Rules of Common Sense

Life’s Lessons… Shitty Thoughts

To our son, Brien…handsome, smart, funny, loved to read…

We love and miss you, son!

Note: There will be some social media posts in italics inserted in some chapters that are applicable throughout the book. The posts are from a weekly discussion group on a major social platform.

I will not help you the way you want me to help you… Your way is not working!

—James Knuckles, circa July 2, 2021

Introduction

For many years, I have wondered why so many of us do some of the things we do that just don’t seem to make very much common sense many times! It seemed to violate many of the commonsense rules or laws as I saw it! I began to wonder if I had a good grasp of the definition or meaning of common sense myself or if I even possessed it! Therefore, I decided to conduct some research on my own on some of the definitions and descriptions of common sense and discovered the following:

Sense:

Sound practical intelligence

A mental judgment, realization, or recognition

Clear and sound mental faculties; sanity

Common:

Occurring, found, or done often; prevalent

Shared by, coming from, or done by more than one

Common sense:

Good sense and sound judgment in practical matters

The basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way.

Sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; average native intelligence

Our natural ability to make sound judgments and behave in a practical and sensible way

Sound practical judgment concerning everyday matters or an essential ability to perceive, understand, and judge things that are shared by most others

Common knowledge that most people, except babies and those with mental challenges, should know and possess (my favorite definition)

After thoroughly researching some of the most common definitions and descriptions of common sense, I concluded that I was definitely on the right track with my thoughts and beliefs about it and that I indeed possessed it! I feel the need at this point to note, nowhere in the definitions above or any other definitions or descriptions I have found, was there a mention of God, race, religion, faith, beliefs, gender, politics, etc., or any other thoughts that weren’t based in fact, science, logic, or just plain common sense! So if we had to guess or choose what should influence or affect our daily lives more in a practical manner—God, religion, faith, beliefs, gender, race, and politics or facts, science, logic, and plain common sense—what would you choose? In my mind, your choice will indicate how much control and stability you believe you have in your life!

Philosophy

Please bear with me for a few minutes while I get somewhat technical for the purposes of understanding the terms which are the foundation of this book…

DNA: The genetic code that determines primarily the physiological characteristics of a living thing. Deoxyribonucleic acid, the technical name, is a self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes; a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes. I like to think of it as primarily the physical part of our makeup that helps make us who we are physically, i.e., eye color, hair color, height, skin color, etc. Not much we can do about changing that part of our makeup as a living being other than some medical procedure possibly, and that only changes the physical appearance, not the actual DNA structure itself.

Hardwired: Genetically or innately determined, pertaining to or being a deep-rooted and relatively unmodifiable behavior or thought pattern in most cases. I like to think of this as the psychological, mental, or emotional part of our makeup or being that helps make us who we are from an attitudinal, thought, and behavior place. I strongly suspect this is why we as human beings have a problem with common sense most of the time. Through my research, I have not been able to find or see any other possible reason, other than for babies and those with mental challenges, for our complete lack of intelligence or common sense in many instances! For example, if I asked you what your favorite and least favorite colors were, could you tell me? I suspect you could. If I offered you $1,000,000 to change your most favorite color to your least favorite color and your least favorite color to your most favorite color, could you immediately do so on demand? I don’t mean could you tell me you did it, but could you actually immediately intellectualize and internally change how you truly feel about the colors simply based upon a request in exchange for a large sum of money? I suspect you could not. If we can’t consciously change our thoughts or behavior in life on something as simple and unimportant as our most favorite or least favorite colors on request or demand for a large sum of money, how can we change other more difficult and impactful aspects of our thoughts or life like race, religion, or politics for free? This is an example of being hardwired.

Common sense: Knowledgeable, sound, and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts shared by nearly all people except babies and those with mental challenges!

I suspect the people who don’t fall into the babies, those with mental challenges, and nearly all categories referenced above are the group that causes us the most frustration and confusion. I like to call this group the other! This is the group I hope to get a better understanding of. I am very aware that we have certain beliefs or practices in our day-to-day lives that are in direct conflict with common sense! Race, politics, and religion are probably three of the biggest and most common violators of commonsense rules or principles! Yet those are the three topics many people are frequently heard saying, If you don’t want to lose or ruin good relationships, do not discuss race, politics, or religion! The three topics that probably have the most impact on our daily lives and many feel and believe we should not discuss them! This is just one of many instances that just doesn’t seem to make very much common sense to me!

Is our race determined by our DNA? Yes! Is our religion or our politics determined by our DNA? No, it is not! We can change our thoughts on religion or politics at any given time, and we often sometimes do, but we can’t change our race! Are we hardwired one way or the other in our religious or political thoughts and beliefs? Even though I believe we can change our thoughts and beliefs on those things, it seems to me they are a lot harder to change when we are hardwired into a particular way of thinking!

I am very aware that this book will probably not change or affect most or practically any people’s belief in their religion, politics, or any other major part of their life in a meaningful way due to them being hardwired one way or the other! So what is my goal or the point in writing this book if I don’t believe it will change many or anyone’s mind in a meaningful way? It has to do with my own, and hopefully many others’ desire for understanding and finding clarity on the subject of common sense and why many of us act and behave the way we do many times! This is my opportunity to organize my own and others’ thoughts on the subject of common sense I have had for many years on paper in a logical order and to bring a sense of clarity to myself and hopefully many others on something that I and many others see so clearly but many seem to have a problem grasping! It will also be an opportunity for enlightenment for so many who have told me they have had the same confusion with why so many seemingly smart and intelligent people they know and have known seem to have such a hard time grasping the concept of common sense in a meaningful way in so many cases! I am sure at one time or another all of us have had our common sense questioned by others. At this time, I would like you to take a moment and think of an area of your life where you have not been applying some general rules of common sense, and by the end of reading this book, start making a change! Hopefully after reading this book, depending on the outcome of your efforts to change, you will have a better understanding of the complexity and difficulty in consistently applying the rules of common sense on some issues or situations in our lives 100 percent of the time!

In December 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, China. The first case in the United States was reported in January 2020. In March 2020, it was declared a worldwide pandemic (a disease that is prevalent over a whole country or the world). As of June 26, 2020, the reported worldwide cases were 9,473,214 and 484,249 deaths and still climbing! Worldwide governments, including the United States, had shut down their economies; to include, their educational systems, religious organizations, medical facilities were severely impacted; airline and transportation industries, in general, were decimated! There were hundreds of thousands of reported deaths worldwide as a result of the virus! These were all facts acknowledged by all the countries of the world and most of their people! Confronted with all these facts and much more, there were still many people, primarily in the United States and along political party lines, who believed the virus claim was a hoax or a conspiracy! Common sense-wise, they must have also believed this was a worldwide conspiracy where all of the world’s countries and their people had gotten together to perpetrate this hoax! When asked why all the world’s countries and people would do this, they didn’t have a reasonable explanation for their thoughts and feelings other than they believed the hoax was perpetrated by the media and the Democratic Party, and that’s just what they thought and believed! Many times, they would not discuss their reasoning and would get angry and refuse to continue discussing the subject! Common sense-wise, this thought pattern just doesn’t make much common sense! Like with the favorite color analogy, it seems many of us are hardwired on our views about Covid-19 and find it equally difficult to change our feelings and thoughts on it, even though common sense wise, it doesn’t make much sense to think that the whole world is involved in such a