美國前國防部長Donald Rumsfeld有段名言:
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.
這是2002年二月就伊拉克核武器問題講的,其中要害當然是“unknown unknown”了。查了一下,這一提法的最先使用是在1984,一名美國空軍準將在一篇關於軍事訓練的論文裏用它來強調現代戰爭中不可預見因素。
子曾經曰過:知之為知之,不知為不知。至於這“unknown unknown”嘛,老夫子顯然沒想到。所以說,美國這龍頭老大的地位還真不是白給的,它在戰略上是站得很高,看得很遠的,是大智慧,國人切不可妄自尊大。