Our brains have three layers of knowledge, they say:
- 1. Known knowns – these are things we know that we know. (I know my name, telephone number, and address, for instance, and I’m fully aware that I have this knowledge.)
- 2. Known unknowns – these are things we don’t know, and we are aware that we don’t know them. (For example, I know that I don’t know how to speak Mandarin Chinese.)
- 3. Unknown unknowns – these are things we don’t even know are there to be known!
What’s so very mind-blowing is that the known knowns make up only the smallest portion (the orange section of the pie chart that represents our brain’s capacity). The green section represents the known unknowns, and the largest section, more than half, is the unknowns we don’t even know exist!
Here at the Mind Tripping Show, we’re “into” unknowns. In fact, for us, knowing there’s much we don’t know – maybe even can’t know – is what puts the fun into “tripping out” with psychological illusions.
When people come to their very first Mind Tripping show, we’ve learned, they often arrive with the expectation of a “performance” consisting of onstage “tricks”. They very soon realize that illusions are part and parcel of our everyday human existence. Illusions can be funny or awe-inspiring, but they are always thought-provoking. How can we be such “perfectly normal people” and still miss many of those “perfectly abnormal” and “unknown” aspects of life?
Blue October, a rock band from Houston Texas, sings about the unknowns: “The things we don’t know about, the things we don’t know about, They help us see, they help us see.”
When you’re looking for something fun to do in Indianapolis, come see us, and, just maybe, we can “help you see.” But don’t be surprised if you have trouble figuring out just how much you didn’t know you didn’t know!
– by Opti of the Mind Tripping Show blog team