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No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge")

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Re: No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge")

#71

Post by dget »

kilian wrote: post #15

I'll come right out and say it: Most of the pleasure in my work comes from agreeing to do something I know I don't know, and then figuring it out. Now, what disconcerts me is that, given the same situation, if I say "sure, I can do that" people believe me, but if I say "I don't know how to do it, but I can figure out" others hesitate. I think this has to do with most people wanting you to know a lot, instead of wanti…

Recognizing that difference in how people react is what puts you into the first category of confident people in the article.

Re: No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge")

#76

Post by sailormoon »

DLWormwood wrote: post #61
kqr2 wrote: post #28

Reminds me of the quote from Rumsfeld. Reformatted by http://www.slate.com/id/2081042/ The Unknown 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.

Both Rumsfeld (and the article) missed the 4th type of knowledge: "unknown knowns." That is, things you know, but you don't realize you know yet. (Either you know it subconsciously, have knowledge from another domain you don't yet realize is appropriate to the job at hand, or you learned it before, forgot it, and only need a small reminder or mental jog to regain it.)

Don't forget the 5th type, "incorrect known knowns" - things you think you know that are wrong. For example, you could know there's a dictator somewhere, he's got a lot of WMDs and his country's in a bad way, and you have a foolproof plan to quickly go in and fix the place up without much hassle.

Re: No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge")

#77

Post by tyler197802198 »

bliss wrote: post #63
wallflower wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without getting too metaphysical here, beliefs can, if not shape, distort reality. For example, one of the purposes of fancy, polished, sleek TV automobile ads is to reassure buyers of that particular car that they made the right purchase ("Dude, that's my car!") Similarly, our beliefs are self-reinforcing. Like imagine you had a conflict with a co-worker because he wronged you in some way. Even if he tries to make u…

I don't believe that the purpose of advertisements is to reassure customers AFTER they've spent the money. That doesn't make sense to me. Future sale is influenced by good service over the length of ownership. I don't agree that post-sale ego-stroking is even a factor. I do however believe and agree that beliefs are self reinforcing (see I failed again, just like I knew I would)

Well, you just convinced me you believe that, thereby demonstrating that "b" is easier than "a". Congrats!

However, you are still wrong. At one point the US National Government spent $1/4 mil per year in attempts to convince people who had bought American-made cars that they had made a good choice. (I don't know current stats, and know that I don't know them.)

Think of it this way: If you can convince people who bought your product to feel good about their decision then they will speak well of your product to others. Reputation and word of mouth are both powerful and worth investing in.

Re: No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge")

#78

Post by tyler197802198 »

milfot wrote: post #68
fbu wrote: post #6

You're entitled to your own opinion, not to your own facts. (Some TED speaker)

What are facts if not just opinions we agree on?

Theoretically, they can also be statements that are testable in the future.

Ex: At 25C and 1atm, oxygen is a gas, not a liquid or solid. No matter how many times you test that, it will always be true; hence, it is a fact.

Of course, if you ask enough questions (How do you know it is 25C? Why are you confident that instrument is accurate? How do you establish the temperature scale in question?) the person claiming it is a fact will eventually get confused (it is was something they didn't realize they didn't know), send you off to ask someone else (if it was something they know they didn't know), or bored (if it was something they know but they are tired of answering your questions) and you will be free to think the fact wasn't really a fact after all.

Re: No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge")

#79

Post by tyler197802198 »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #38

the experience of his girlfriend struck a chord with me. I used to be confused why no one else was asking questions in class. it took getting to the higher levels of hard science education before I realized: everyone else had just been learning by rote. it's easy to just show up, memorize, and pass the test. it came back to bite them in the ass later when they reached the washout phase of math, physics, and chemistry…

And that is why people who do well in hard sciences deserve more pay than people who (are otherwise equal and) don't.

And they usually get it.

Re: No One Knows What the F*** They're Doing (or "The 3 Types of Knowledge")

#80

Post by tyler197802198 »

houseabsolute wrote: post #36
flatline wrote: post #24

There is a meta-problem here: we can't really know how big that red slice of the pie - the "don't know what you don't know" slice - really is. I think he captured the essence of the learning process correctly though, the "know what you don't know" slice just keeps getting bigger as you get older, thus the oft-cited expression, "the older you get, the less you know".

You can make some good back of the envelope attempts at answering it. For example, you can look at how often the big red slice forcibly intrudes on your life to your detriment, and compare that to how often it happens to other humans with similar risk-taking habits to you. The more often, the bigger your personal red slice is.

That would just tell you the size of your red slice compared to other people, and you would be discriminating in favor of things that are relevant to your life. I true perspective of how much you don't know you don't know would have to take into account the possible sum total of all knowledge; good luck with that.
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