There are three kinds of implicit attributes. ## Type 1: Self aware These are implicit attributes of a Person X that X is explicitly aware of. Example: Consider a closeted gay teen in a rural town who has privately recognized his same sex preference, but not revealed it to anyone else. In this case, the attribute "Willing to date men" is a self aware implicit attribute. It is an _implicit attribute_ because another Person Y cannot find this information either by direct observation of X, or by reading any of X's publicly visible online profiles. It is an implicit attribute of the _self aware_ type, because Person X is fully aware of this fact about himself. ## Type 2: Self reportable These are implicit attributes of Person X that X has never considered before, but which X can reveal in response to a question. Example: Consider a 25 year old straight man who has never had a girlfriend. He may never have considered the question of whether he would be willing to marry someone overseas if he met the right person. However, if asked the question, this particular man would think for a moment and confidently answer yes. This is an implicit attribute for the same reason as above: it is not publicly visible, either in person or on any of his online profiles. It is an implicit attribute of the _self reportable_ type, because he is not aware of this fact about himself, but can be made aware by introspection in response to a question. ## Type 3: Self unaware These are implicit attributes of Person X that X has never considered before, and which X _cannot_ accurately reveal simply by introspection in response to a question. \[EXAMPLE-REDACTED\] This is a perfect example of a self-unaware implicit attribute. In 20XY, suppose \[NAME-REDACTED\] was asked the following question: > Are you the type of person who could be happy in a three person relationship with multiple long-term committed partners, if you met the right person or people? We can be confident from the first post that she would have answered "no." Nevertheless, the answer turned out to be "yes," though becoming aware of this attribute of herself required a certain experience, not just a direct question. These attributes of human beings are the most difficult type to uncover, and doing so is likely to be beyond the scope of any technological solution that we are able to build in the near future. The other two categories of implicit attributes, however, can easily be mined and made searchable with existing technology.