August 20, 2009

Unknown Knowns


You know, I was at work the other day
and an old Boondocks quote
pulled from a Pulp Fiction quote popped into my head.
Basically, it goes:
"There are known knowns and there are known unknowns.
But there are also unknown unknowns:
things we don't know that we don't know."
But does that mean there are also unknown knowns?
You know, things we don't know that we know.

It would only make sense.
I mean there has to be, right?
We learn stuff all the time,
and sometimes it feels as if we've forgotten it.
But at the oddest moments,
a fact will randomly pop back into your mind
at just the right moment.
For instance,
I know how to draw,
but I sometimes forget how to draw.
This is until of course I actually draw something.

There's also another kind of a unknown known.
This would be repressed memories.
These are more so things that we know that we wished to forget,
so much so that we did and lived life without any knowledge of the fact.
Some events are so stressful or disturbing that it's better that we have no knowledge of it.
But somehow, one way or another,
the memory always pops back up,
usually years later.
When it does, it brings back painful thoughts.
Soon the event and your reaction
can be linked to your mannerisms, thought process, actions in the past.
It can be extremely startling if not handled properly.
Such is the property of unknown knowns.
I believe them to be almost as dangerousas unknown unknowns.
At least with those,
you truly know nothing of it.
Indeed,ignorance is bliss. :-/
Word.

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