Unknown known

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The one type of known that doesn’t appear in Rumsfeld’s taxonomy, but which should: things you know but you don't know you know. Things you have forgotten or, as Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek eloquently puts it, unpleasant realities to which you are presently not facing up: “the disavowed beliefs, suppositions and obscene practices we pretend not to know about, even though they form the background of our public values”.

A significant source of risk, as the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 by the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 ably demonstrates.

See also

• Rumsfeld’s taxonomy
• Risk taxonomy