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Zeroth Order Ignorance (0OI) is explicitly lack of ignorance. We have the answer, so questions should be irrelevant, right?
In its basic and most complete form 0OI is extant knowledge that is immediately usable. Therefore, questions should be neither necessary nor useful, since the answer is already known and can be applied. Perhaps closed validating questions could be appropriate simply to qualify the 0OI: “Have I got this right?” to which the answer might be “yes” or “no.”
If “yes” then the 0OI knowledge would seem to be correct (when comparing against the knowledge basis of the person to whom the question is addressed, of course).
If “no” then this indicates there is some lack of knowledge so the questioner who, in assuming possession of 0OI, was wrong (again relative to the knowledge of the person being questioned).
Now other questions must be posed. But first there is a loose end to tie up with the “have I got this right?” question: what if the person being questioned (versus the questioner) does not have the knowledge? If they have 1OI they will be aware that they don’t have the knowledge and will likely answer with something like “…I don’t know, not my area of expertise.” If the person being questioned has 2OI they might well answer “yes” simply to stop the irritating questioning, though they do not actually know if the questioner has “...got it right.” Answering like this requires a variety of 2OI where the person being questioned does not know and does not care. I will address this later when I talk about subdivisions of the Five Orders of Ignorance.
In some cases, the 0OI knowledge is only partial—where the knowledge is present but there is additional and related knowledge that is not. This knowledge that has not (yet) been acquired that may render the knowledge that has been acquired somewhat limited if the missing knowledge is the knowledge that is needed to make the knowledge work.
Example: I have been working with a highly successful executive, a brilliant woman who wants to write an autobiography of her life, her struggles, and how she overcame them. She has all the knowledge about this particular topic, so let’s label that knowledge:
<a> The knowledge of the subject, which she has in detail and quantity, it being her life and experiences. But there are two additional types of knowledge she needs to acquire:
<b> Knowledge of how to set down the <a> knowledge in a cogent and readable form—this is the knowledge of how to write effectively so that the reader, not having access to <a> can (and will) follow along. The skill of good writing is not trivial. But she also needs:
<c> The knowledge of how to learn how to write well.
These types of knowledge are closely related, but are not the same.
<a> is the core knowledge that we would consider to be the 0OI. In this case it is the knowledge this lady possesses about her life having lived that life.
<c> might seem straightforward; it could be acquired by attending a class on writing an autobiography.
<b> is more a function of practice, repetition, and inspiration—it is the application of <c> to <a>. In this case, the prospective author is finding that writing down her thoughts is a cyclical process and in that cycling she is acquiring <b> and some <c> knowledge .
Another example: from software development: when a programmer loads (the hopefully correct) knowledge into a program he or she must have acquired that knowledge. But simply putting knowledge into a software program through coding is not sufficient to make it work. The programmer must also learn how to get the program to run. This discovery has two steps:
MAKEing the executable—this is usually a procedure that assembles all the parts needed to run the program and then
Compiling the program and parts into a machine-executable form.
How to do this is a non-trivial task and these assembly and compilation tasks have to be learned. In this case, there are three knowledge repositories:
(a) the program containing the coded knowledge of the application.
(b) the MAKE files (or similar) containing the knowledge of how to assemble and compile the program knowledge—it is a form of computer program, but contains different knowledge from the application program. Most MAKE processes also require the programmer to identify the “parts” (library sub-routines, environmental/ compile variables, etc.) the program needs to let it run effectively. This knowledge is stored in the MAKE file code or similar and, to some extent, in the programmer's brain[1].
(c) the knowledge of how to code both the application program and the MAKE process—this knowledge is gained in programming language classes. It is related to but different from both knowledge (a) and (b). It is mostly stored in the programmer's brain, though there may be some in programming language books, subroutine repositories, object libraries and the like.
Good 0OI Questions
While it might seem that 0OI does not need questions, from the other layers of necessary knowledge, there may be questions that arise. The questions will be of two types: completeness and execution/ process.
A simple example: while I might know all the legal moves of chess, I may not know how to actually play a good game. Playing a good game of chess requires additional knowledge of defensive and offensive strategies, even of the skills and tendencies of opposing player. Without this additional knowledge understanding the basic rules of chess is at least somewhat useless since it cannot be well applied.
Given the nature of 0OI, most “good” 0OI questions will be closed and of the form:
• Completeness: “Do I have this right? Is there anything else I need to know?”
• Execution/Process: “If I do this <execution knowledge> will it work?”
Anything other than an unqualified “yes” to these closed questions indicate that the questioner does not possess 0OI.
Note: There may be associated open process questions: "Where will I find this function reference?" But these questions really indicate the presence of 1OI of the process.
FOOTNOTES
[1] One of the differences between experienced and novice programmers is that the experienced programmers have a lot more knowledge stored in the brain medium. This knowledge is of the 0OI variety (they know what the code needs), the 1OI form (they know what they don't know and know how to find the answer), and even the 3OI variety (they have proven methods to unearth things they are unaware of). Also, experienced programmers often have a good sense of 2OI—while they cannot explicitly identify their 2OI (by definition), they often have a nagging sometimes barely-conscious awareness of the things they might not know.
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