Are you sure?

Rumsfeld to Release Memoir in January, Name it After Incoherent Quote

This quote:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because, as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know that we know," Rumsfeld said. "There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know."

And au contraire. Rumsfeld was a poor Secretary of Defense etc etc but he spoke very coherently on that question. Think of it this way:

known knowns -- the temperature this very moment in a given location, possible

known unknowns -- what the temperature will be tomorrow, impossible

unknown unknowns -- we have no idea that it even exists yet much less any specifics i.e. we are not even aware that "it" exists

And just if it makes anyone feel better, Rumsfeld did not invent the scheme but recognized. 

 

The Anosognosic's Dilemma: Something's Wrong but You'll Never Know What It Is (Part 1) - NYTimes.com.

With an"unknown unknown," I don't even know what questions to ask, let alone how to answer those questions.