On certainities and on knowns.

In science, the usual focus is on working with known facts to uncover known unknowns, and sometimes, in doing so, we stumble upon unknown unknowns.

These known facts serve as guides for our decision-making, helping us anticipate and prepare for what lies ahead. We might formulate hypotheses to test, armed with certain facts, all the while striving to convert known unknowns into fully known ones.

Consider space travel: we embark on journeys equipped with state-of-the-art spaceships, predefined trajectories, and fixed planetary positions. Yet, the elusive question remains — what lies beyond?

In the laboratory, during experiments, results could turn inflammable, leading to accidents, or in some cases, unveil entirely unforeseen results — the unknown unknowns. Whatever the results, some of the processes inherently carry their own set of risks.

Returning to space exploration, a space travel mission might help us unveil previously unseen parts of the universe. Interestingly, despite having a predefined trajectory and a well-informed knowledge base of planetary and celestial body positions, we could collide with, say, a meteor that leads us to reveal previously unseen parts of the universe we never planned to check.

Alternatively, the mission might culminate in another routine experiment, further enriching our familiarity with the already known — an outcome still noteworthy.

What’s next in Life?

So, I was lounging on the couch, unmotivated to do anything, not even eat, pondering the question of what the morrow would bring. The answer initially appeared straightforward: it’s Friday, and I follow my morning routine and then get to my laptop. Should boredom or fatigue arise, I take a break and continue afterward.

It all seems routine, yet I’ve always thought of my life as chaotic and erratic.

But still, tomorrow is Friday, much like the previous weeks and the countless more to come.

The question echoes: What else will happen tomorrow? We should expect our light to get fixed because it had an issue this afternoon. What else? I’ll continue working on my projects and the job I have. What else? What else??

Okay, this is where it gets tricky because I genuinely don’t know what’s next. Looking back, there are several times I predicted a day and it went accordingly, only for a little twist, an unexpected event, to occur.

What can one genuinely ascertain? Some life certainties, once solid, lose their firmness upon closer scrutiny. A lifetime of certainty in someone’s father, for example, might be upended by a blood transfusion situation.

Building Products

We start with a set of known user needs and market trends. These serve as our guides in crafting innovative solutions. But as we iterate and refine our designs, we may stumble upon unknown unknowns — unmet user needs or entirely new market opportunities that were not part of the initial plan.

In an effort to achieve product-market fit, what we had initially envisioned for our product might soon be entirely different from what we currently have. The problems we thought we wanted to solve might not be a problem people need to solve, and in some interesting cases, our solution is used to solve an entirely different and unprecedented problem. Shifts in consumer sentiment, viral trends, or disruptive competitors that were not foreseen.

Software development is the best when it comes to certainties and unknowns. There is a parallel to the unknown unknowns. These are the unexpected bugs, vulnerabilities, or unintended consequences that can emerge during testing or after release. No matter how well we plan, there are always aspects of software behavior that elude our predictions.

However, to roll it back to the beginning, it begins with a set of known programming languages, algorithms, and design principles. These are the knowns that guide us as we embark on the journey to create something new. However, as we delve deeper into the coding process, we encounter known unknowns — challenges that we anticipated and planned for, such as debugging and optimizing code.

A lot of bugs are being detected in a well-tested production app. And when it comes to tracing them, software developers sometimes have no idea. Some try so hard to figure out what the bug is within their code; however, I have had a situation where the framework was where the errors were coming from and also a situation where it was an API I was using that had the errors.

In essence, uncertainties and unknowns pervade each day, compelling us to continually prepare ourselves to navigate these uncharted waters.

“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable”
-Mary Oliver