A seven-year-old named Ethan talks about what he knows and doesn't know: making butter, playing games, counting, basic animals. He knows he doesn't know bigger numbers, most animal species, or words like "discombobulated." He expects to learn more as he grows.
Hey Ethan, can you hear me?
Uh, I can hear you.
Excellent, I can hear you. How are you doing?
Good.
Good, good. So I'm wondering, how do you know what you know?
I read. I—
Do you know what you know?
Yeah, I know what I know.
What kinds of things do you know? Give me some examples of things that you know.
I know how to make butter because we just made butter today.
Very cool.
Um, I know how to play games.
Excellent. What else?
I know, uh, that's all I can think of right now.
That's all you can think of? Do you know what you don't know? No. Is there anything you don't know or do you know everything?
Nobody knows everything.
Nobody knows everything? Um, you must know a few more things. You know your name, right?
Yes, Ethan.
You know your parents' names, right?
Huh?
You know what it's like outside. You know the difference between inside and outside, I bet.
Yeah, I do. I do.
So I bet there are lots of things that you do know, right?
Lots and lots.
So given that you know lots of things, How do you know what things you don't know? Is there any— can you think of one example of something that you know that you don't know?
Hmm. I— that's a good question.
So let's— should I give you an easy, easy example? First of all, you know what 2 2 is, right?
Yeah, that's 4, the mouse.
Do you know what 75 plus 75 is?
I can't count that high.
Okay, so would you say that you know that 2 plus 2 is 4, but you don't know what 75 plus 75 is? Is that correct?
Yes, I don't even know what 75 looks like.
Okay, um, so is it fair to say that you know, uh, quite a bit about how small numbers work but you don't know a lot about bigger numbers?
I can count on it up to maybe like 13 or 14 but can't, can't count higher.
Okay, so you know that you don't know.
Hey, I'll be, I'll be right back. Something's beeping. I need—
Okay.
Okay.
Okay. So you know that you know how to count up to about 14 or 15, but you don't know how to do numbers beyond that, correct? Is that fair that you don't know? Okay. And how about animals? You know some animals. You know what a dog is and a cat is, right?
Yeah, in fact, you know what a bear is? We even have a cat that is a stray. He comes to our house now and then, and we run him in our house now and then. So yeah.
Do you know what a bear is?
A fail.
Yeah, a bear. Yeah, the animal.
It's one of those big parties.
How about lions and tigers? Do you know about lions and tigers?
Yeah.
How about a platypus? Do you know what a platypus is?
Yeah.
What does a platypus look like?
My mom uses that word all the time, platypus.
Oh, okay. Do you know what a platypus looks like?
Yeah, I'm watching a show that teaches me all about animals.
Okay, so do you think you know all the animals or are you still learning about some new animals?
Still learning about some new.
Okay, so would you say it's fair to say that you know that you don't know about all animals yet?
Yeah.
Okay, how about what words mean? You know what it means to run and you know what it means to think, right?
Right.
How about, do you know what discombobulated means?
No.
Okay. How about evanescent? Do you know what evanescent means?
No.
Okay. So is it fair to say that there are a bunch of words that you do know and another bunch of words that you don't know?
Yes.
Okay. So one way to think about this is that the world of Ethan has animals Ethan knows, numbers Ethan knows, people Ethan knows, animals people knows, words Ethan knows, and then there's also this bigger world of people you don't know, numbers you don't know, animals you don't know, um, words you don't know. Does that seem accurate that there are things you don't know yet?
Seems pretty accurate.
Okay. Do you think as you get older and you learn more, the world of things that Ethan knows will get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger?
Yeah, until it's bigger than that world that I don't.
Okay. Do you think— but you said nobody knows everything, right? So you would say that every human being, there are limits to everybody's knowledge. Is that right?
What? What?
How do you know that nobody knows everything? How do you know that no one knows everything? Maybe there's a super smart person out there that knows everything. How do you know that there's nobody that knows everything?
Mom always tells me that.
Okay. Are you sure your mom's right about that? Maybe your mom's wrong about that. Do you think she might be wrong about that?
Pretty sure.
You're pretty sure she's right about that?
Yeah.
Why do you think, why do you think she's right about that?
She's pretty true. Nobody knows everything.
Okay, okay. Well, um, that, that is an interesting thing. I, I think you're right, of course, but I thought I'd check to see if why, why you thought no one knows everything. Well, I look forward to you getting older and knowing more and more and more. Okay. Um, in which case, I'm gonna let you have a good Sunday, and we'll check in another Sunday, okay?
Yes.
All right, bye-bye, Ethan. Have a good week.
Bye.
