Unknown unknown
|
Unknown unknown /ʌnˈnəʊn/ (n.)
Something that you don’t know that you don’t know. This of course presents an immediate paradox, because if you know that you don’t know that you don’t know something — which for you to be talking about unknown unknowns, you must, then this is a known unknown unknown, which we rather think — but to be clear, we don’t know, as such — must be a variety of known unknown. Which makes it an unknown known unknown unknown. I am pretty certain about this. That is a known unknown known unknown unknown.
There are six types of known.
The Rumsfeld three:
- Known knowns: Things you do know you know;
- Known unknowns: Things you do know you don’t know;
- Unknown unknowns: Things you don’t know you don’t know;
And the Jolly Contrarian three:
- Unknown knowns: Things you don’t know you do know.
- Not officially known: Things you know but the general public can’t prove.
- Knowable unknowns: Things you don’t know, but think you do know, for the time being, because computers.