Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Tomas Friedman (2008): started me pondering upon wicked problems and how to solved them. It been 15 years since I read that book. During that interval I’ve identified a host of wicked problems but have not untangled a single problem.
I’ve been thinking about this post for months. Naming on three problems is an impossible task. I started out by just noting down a list of problems which took me about 10 minutes:
- Population
- Russia
- Extremism
- Guns
- Hackers
- Abortion
- Illegal Immigrants
- China
- Terrorists
- Invasive species – plant and animal
- Water or lack there of
- Pandemics
- Climate
- Republicans vs Democrats
- China
- AI
- WWWIII
I knocked out Population because it’s so general most of the problems facing us today are children of population. Besides what can we do about the number of people on the planet. We certainly can’t euthanatize 3/4 of the population! If I had to name the ONE problem it would be population.
So, the problem has to be one we can solve.
I crossed out Hackers because they are a nuisance and at least for now don’t affect most of us.
So, the problem has to be one that affects the general population.
Since I live in the USA the problem should be one that greatly affects the USA. For example, the war in the Ukraine is a terrible event but a long way off for me.
To cut the number to three I did a mini-trade study. The criteria were;
- Solvable
- Affects everyone
- USA specific
Abortion
It was a tough call between Abortion and Illegal Aliens but in the end Abortion won out. First, it’s been a problem since at least Roe vs. Wade back when Gwen and I were just in love 50+ years ago. Secondly, Its a touchstone between the religious right and the liberals. If they can come to agreement on Abortion then then the lions and the lambs can live together.
And just maybe the Democrats and the Republicans can agree on a few tings
Water
There is no new Water on the Planet unless a large comet strikes which makes the problem mute. Water was a surprise winner for me. The American West is in the middle of a 1,000 year drought. Texas ranchers can’t draw water from the Brazos because Dow Checmial father down stream at Freeport needs it all to create chemicals. They win because the TCEQ says so. Millions maybe billions don’t have clean water to drink. Meanwhile the almond crop in California is sucking the Colorado River dry.
Climate Change
Climate Change affects us all not only the USA but everyone in the planet. However we can’t even agree there is a climate change. Republicans deny it because they believe it will hurt business. Democrats profess to believe the climate is changing but when in office they don’t do anything about it.
The end
i’ll think about this and post an update soon. I don’t like the winners. Just doesn’t seem right for some reason.
In the meantime anyone who can solve one of these problems deserves the Nobel Peace Prize
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