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The concept of "Unknown Unknowns" changed my approach to life for better. I was one of those laughing to the famous speech [1] the very first time I heard it.

The concept of "Unknown Unknowns" changed my approach to life for better. I was one of those laughing to the famous speech [1] the very first time I heard it. After a few days, I begin to grasp the epistemological truth in it, making me humbler. Today in every system I work on, I know there will be risks unexpected and possible, and the system shall be resilient and with physical negative feedback in case control loop fails. Same in private life, I do not expect luck and I try to minimize kurtosis in all known scenarios (hoping it somehow covers the unknown unknows). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns

DapperZoom 6y ago
Relatedly, I was struck by philosopher Bernard Longergan's concept of one's horizon. He distinguished three classes of questions: - The questions one can raise and answer satisfactorialy - The questions one can raise, but can not yet answer - The questions one is not even able to raise One's intellectual horizon sits between the second and third categories. You can only think of humanity's horizon in this same sense.
- rsecora 6y ago
  Your comment is food for the brain. :)
Mizza 6y ago
I've written about this before, but the thing that always gets overlooked about this quote is the "unknown-known" corner of the truth table: the things we take for granted, but do not ever think about. These are what we _really_ need to worry about. In the case of Rumsfeld, it was the prisoner abuse, the civilian casualties, the torture, the blowback, ISIS.. In our lives this can be structural inequalities, the way power manifests in systems, Conways's law, all that. The big one, of course, is the environment. We're all fully aware that we're in the middle of a complete ecological collapse, and that without drastic action and change in both our habits and the geopolitical world order, our grandchildren will inherit a nearly uninhabitable Earth. Yet we all continue on as if nothing is wrong..
- akimball 6y ago
  under-rated comment.

DapperZoom 6y ago

Relatedly, I was struck by philosopher Bernard Longergan's concept of one's horizon. He distinguished three classes of questions: - The questions one can raise and answer satisfactorialy - The questions one can raise, but can not yet answer - The questions one is not even able to raise One's intellectual horizon sits between the second and third categories. You can only think of humanity's horizon in this same sense.

rsecora 6y ago
Your comment is food for the brain. :)

Mizza 6y ago

I've written about this before, but the thing that always gets overlooked about this quote is the "unknown-known" corner of the truth table: the things we take for granted, but do not ever think about. These are what we _really_ need to worry about. In the case of Rumsfeld, it was the prisoner abuse, the civilian casualties, the torture, the blowback, ISIS.. In our lives this can be structural inequalities, the way power manifests in systems, Conways's law, all that. The big one, of course, is the environment. We're all fully aware that we're in the middle of a complete ecological collapse, and that without drastic action and change in both our habits and the geopolitical world order, our grandchildren will inherit a nearly uninhabitable Earth. Yet we all continue on as if nothing is wrong..

akimball 6y ago
under-rated comment.