[El Gato]

If common sense was a relevant criteria for quantum mechanics, we'd still be communicating by vacuum tube, and the internet would have a rotary dial addressing mechanism.

Surely we'd at least have vacumn tube switches? :) Of course even a tube has quantum mechanical aspects. In fact one of the early "quantum" effects, the "Edison effect" was first observed in a vacumn tube!

I agree, "Common sense" has little to do with quantum mechanics, or relativity for that matter. For the simple reason that neither (directly!) manifests itself under the conditions of everyday life, where common sense is presumably developed, although I wouldn't know, since I have very little of it myself. Or so my father was fond of telling me when I was younger. :) He may have been right too!

[Doctor Stochastic]

"Common sense" seems to be either rare or wrong. There isn't much common sense in probability theory either, considering the misunderstandings and misues that are rather common.

"We seldom attribute common sense except to those who agree with us." - Rochefoucauld

I'm sure someone has said that "Common Sense is neither common nor sensical."

[donh]

Surely we'd at least have vacumn tube switches? :)

My guess would be probably not. If I remember correctly, stroeger switches were the phone companies bread and water when the solid state transistor was developed. Hard to think vacuum tubes would have been a viable alternative to stroger switches.