**A less frequent, but interest quadrant of the Known/Unknown matrix.** Unknown knowns are an interesting quadrant of the [[Known Unknown Matrix]]. At first I thought this quadrant existed only as an artifact of geometry. How can you not known that you know something? But this isn’t true. **Unknown Knowns do exist.** There are effectively two types: # Things you know, but failed to consider: - You knew your car was out of gas, but forgot to account for that in planning your departure time. - You knew that Sharon doesn’t like onions, but failed to realize she would be at the party and baked them into your meatloaf. # Things you genuinely didn’t know you already knew - The sound of hot water pouring into a glass is different than cold water, and [you can already tell which is which.](https://youtu.be/Ri_4dDvcZeM?t=48) Obviously, examples from the second list are self-removing. # Abating the Symptoms The only way to reduce the chances of being bitten by the first type of Unknown Knowns is to have a well-established checklist or procedure for a given task, that serves as a queue for you to realize you're hosed _before_ it really happens. **** ## Source ## Related - [[Known Unknown Matrix]]