A failure of imagination is a circumstance wherein something seemingly predictable (particularly from hindsight) and undesirable was not planned for.
The field of epistemology studies knowledge and human understanding, and failures of understanding. Failure of imagination is related to Unknown unknowns and Black swan theory, popularized by Nassim Taleb in his 2007 book The Black Swan, describing unexpected or unpredicted incidents with significant negative impact.
Read more about Failure Of Imagination: Intelligence Failures of Imagination and The 9/11 Attacks, Accidents Related Failures of Imagination
Famous quotes containing the words failure of, failure and/or imagination:
“The clearest explanation for the failure of any marriage is that the two people are incompatible—that is, that one is male and the other female.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“Scientific method is the way to truth, but it affords, even in
principle, no unique definition of truth. Any so-called pragmatic
definition of truth is doomed to failure equally.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“As we looked up in silence to those distant lights, we were reminded that it was a rare imagination which first taught that the stars are worlds, and had conferred a great benefit on mankind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)