Veronika O
- Registered: 9 May 2023
- Posts: 37
Dear Forumers,
Donald Rumsfeld, the United States Secretary of Defense, said in 2002 that:
"As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know."
I think basically that this assessment by Mr Rumsfeld explains a lot, and surely it still applies just as much.
Veronika Oleksychenko
Button
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,053
You forgot my favourite: unknown knowns.
(Not my real name.)
Veronika O- Registered: 9 May 2023
- Posts: 37
Dear Button,
Mr Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns" is perhaps the great political quotation of the 21st Century so far.
But his boss George W. Bush also gave great insight when he said that "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully".
Veronika Oleksychenko
How I Wrote Elastic Man- Registered: 5 Dec 2020
- Posts: 105
Yes Minister
Bernard Woolley: You need to know them not because you need to know them but because you need to know whether or not you need to know. If you don't need to know, you still need to know so that you know that there is no need to know. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Yes!
ray hutstone likes this
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,053
Dear Veronika
Mr Rumsfeld's pronouncement was met with something bordering on derision at the time, but has come to be highly regarded in the risk management industry. However, 'unknown knowns' (things we have forgotten that we knew) are surely the most important variant, for they flag-up that we are in danger of failing to learn from our mistakes.
(Not my real name.)
Veronika O- Registered: 9 May 2023
- Posts: 37
Dear Button,
Thank you for your analysis and I think that you make a great point. That "'unknown knowns' (things we have forgotten that we knew)" show the desperate situation of not learning from past history.
Veronika Oleksychenko