Those Unknown Unknowns Again

Healthy piece from Michael Blastland at BBC Go Figure on …

How wrong can we be?
Often more wrong than we think.
This is good – as in useful – to know.

Good to hear another sympathetic comment regarding Rumsfeld’s epistemology. Previously on Psybertron:
(Aug 2004) Robert Matthews invokes Rumsfeld on limits to scientific knowledge.
(Dec 2003) Geoff Cohen on Ignorance in Denial in the original kerfuffle ridiculing the Rumsfeld quote.

The real point is the problem with communicating doubt in an environment that demands certainties and no-surprises – without being drowned in scorn – now that’s a problem meme.

And a little more ammunition for the idea that ever more communication is not necessarily a good thing. Less is more, even when it comes to information.

more important than ever
to know who we can trust
to keep us well-informed

Well yeah – trust hits top slot again, and “well-informed” is about quality, not quantity. The theme emerging.

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[Post Note: (2016) Nick Spencer of Theos:

invoking Rumsfeld’s epistemology in  the reality of electoral voting re Trump / Corbyn (delete as inappropriate).]

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