Common knowledge is something everyone knows that everyone knows. He saw it. She saw it. He knows that she saw it, and vice versa, ad infinitum.
According to Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, humans are constantly occupied with whether information has achieved this potent status. It’s just that the deliberations usually happen below the level of awareness. In “When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows …,” Pinker explains why common knowledge is nonetheless central to everything from planning a coffee date to driving on the correct side of the road.
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“I also suggest it’s the basis of our social relationships,” he said. “Two people are friends not because they signed a contract but because each one knows that the other one knows that the first knows that the second knows that they’re friends. Or lovers. Or neighbors. Or transactional partners.”
In an interview with the Gazette, … the veteran author and professor identified the undercurrents of common knowledge in everyday language, laughter, and social media use.
