(Picture from the Daily Prince twitter account: @princetonian)
I never thought I would say this, but I've got Rummy on the mind. Especially this oft-mocked quote:
Reports that say there's -- that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things that we know that 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.(People gave him such a hard time for saying this, but I must say, the ideas are perfectly clear and well-expressed. Sure, the use of some synonyms might have helped him out a bit. But I'd rather see everyone else get used to the verbal adjective. We had to translate this passage into Latin in my prose composition course in graduate school, which was fairly straightforward compared to the quote from George W. Bush that was also assigned.)
Okay, the context: Dave is in negotiation with two different schools in the NY area! I'm so proud to say that he was awarded a major federal grant for his research a few weeks ago. Now it's time to decide what place will be the home for his research for the next several years. We've got some known knowns: physical location, commute times, dollar figures (well, the last bit is being worked out, but we should know eventually). There are some known unknowns, too (colleagues' personalities, arrival times of promised technical equipment, my future feelings about my current job). But what about the unknown unknowns? Or even the unknown knowns (if you buy Žižek's extension of the argument) – those assumptions and beliefs which we refuse to recognize within ourselves?
Fortunately, this is a decision of no geopolitical consequence, nor will any lives be saved or lost by this. I'm just reminded now of how often we must make a leap with our big decisions. You can't really know what makes a college a good fit for you until you're done with college; same with graduate school. Let's not even talk about major career changes, marriage, children! I suppose this is what makes new steps exciting...but I am also becoming more risk-averse with time. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what our options are, and then decide on what seems best right now...
Post-scriptum: Since I mentioned Žižek above, I here give you one of my top 10 favorite Onion gags. I don't know why, but I can't stop laughing at it:
Pretty interesting (and long) article by Zizek! What a hottie!
ReplyDeletethis is a perfect blog post-- imaging you translating Rumsfeld and GW into Latin, Zizek references, plus life changing personal epiphanies and steps into the unknown... and it all relates back to the P-rade!
ReplyDeleteHonestly I couldn't force myself to do much more than skim the Zizek-- but, reading those "scientists at NYU" examples, I couldn't help but think-- will Zizek be writing about Dave one of these days???? :D
I completely agree about the Rumsfeld quote -- I never understood why people thought it was so stupid and ridiculous. It's actually an important point.
ReplyDelete"I'm just reminded now of how often we must make a leap with our big decisions."-- definitely! You can only make the best decision you can at the time... this is also good to remember when we're tempted to look back and think, "If I'd just done X instead of Y, then I know this, this, and this would happened afterwards and it would have been so much better..." (cue regret, resentment, etc). Well, no, you don't know that, not for the kinds of choices we are talking about.
SO EXCITED ABOUT DAVE'S DECISION! Keep us updated :)
I have enjoyed this post so much!!! I love the "refined" joke about red/blue ink. (Haha I'm reading in bursts between tasks at work, which is why the responses are staggered...)
ReplyDelete