>It's an artifact of wishful thinking. People will go to great lengths to avoid thinking about the fact that some people are better than others; it's the biggest "inconvenient truth" of our culture.

I'm not sure if the whole book smart / street smart thing is a good example of what you're saying. Wouldn't that just be an example of people becoming well adapted to their environment (or in fact manipulating their environment)?

Ok, I think that aligns with my statement about specialization. With finite time and incentives to specialize, I wonder if it pressures people against being generalists. I’ve often thought common sense is borne out of having many different, diverse experiences.