# known unknown (model)

*Ordinarily means:* Something we know we don't know.

A parameter that a model treats as part of its boundary, though the model cannot act on it because its range is not mapped.

- Computed level: L14 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: model and trust  ·  Arena: epistemic

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [range](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-range.spatial)

**Through:** The phrase reports a failure in a self-model to represent its own limits — the thing is not just unknown, but structured as unknowable within the model's current frame.

**Novel properties:**
- model boundary misalignment
- unmapped parameter range

## Examples
- The Hubble Space Telescope corrected its spherical aberration after engineers identified the flawed mirror's known manufacturing error. *(engineering)*
- The 2008 financial crisis exposed banks' reliance on credit default swaps whose risk parameters were acknowledged but not bounded. *(economics)*
- The Mars Climate Orbiter burned up because NASA teams used metric units while Lockheed Martin used imperial, a discrepancy known but uncalibrated. *(computing)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-known-unknown.model*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-known-unknown.model.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*