"unknown^K"

«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.» -- Rumsfeld

«It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what
you think you know that just ain't so.» -- Billings

What about higher order unknowns? These are certainly hard to grok,
but even unknown^3 is probably quite useful.

Here's how it appears to work:

unknown^1: we don't know = indeterminacy
unknown^2: we don't know we don't know = obliviousness
unknown^3: we don't know we don't know we don't know = we're not even
aware of our obliviousness

unknown^3 seems like "the normal state of affairs". In other words,
it describes the basic sort of epistemic violence that is required to
function in society.

We do not live as if we were bounded finite beings. We do not live in
a continual state of crisis.

Rather, we live as if we were unbounded totalities, worlds (and laws)
unto ourselves.

It is only by a bizarre twist that humility and a corresponding crisis
is the beginning of strategic thinking.