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Problems

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Problems are situations in which the current state of things differs from a desired state, and the study of problems covers both the large difficulties facing humanity and the methods people use to solve them. This page is a broad overview of problems at the scale of societies and the world, while the related hub page Problems in living focuses on the everyday problems that individuals and groups encounter in work, health, relationships, and daily life.

What a problem is

A problem can be described as a gap between a current state and a desired state, together with some obstacle that keeps the gap from closing on its own. Naming the current state, the desired state, and the obstacles is often the first step toward a solution because it turns a vague worry into a statement that can be tested.

Kinds of problems

Problems differ in how clearly they can be stated. A well-defined problem has a clear goal, known starting conditions, and a way to tell when it is solved, such as repairing a broken pump. An ill-defined problem has unclear goals or boundaries, such as improving the quality of life in a neighborhood.

In a 1973 paper, the planning scholars Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber distinguished tame problems from wicked problems.[1] Tame problems can be solved and checked, much like a puzzle. Wicked problems, which include many social and policy questions, have no single correct formulation, no clear stopping point, and solutions that change the problem itself.

Problems also differ in scale. Individual problems affect one person or household, while collective problems require coordination among many people. Local problems are tied to a place, such as a polluted river, and global problems cross borders, such as pandemic disease.

How to approach problems

Practical problem solving tends to follow a repeating cycle rather than a single leap.[2]

  • Define the problem. Write a short statement of the current state, the desired state, and who is affected.
  • Find root causes. The five whys technique asks why a problem occurs, then asks why again about each answer, usually about five times, until a cause that can be acted on appears. A fishbone diagram, also called an Ishikawa diagram, sorts possible causes into branches such as people, methods, materials, equipment, and environment.
  • Gather data. Measurements and records show how large a problem is and whether it is growing.
  • Generate options. List many possible responses before judging any of them.
  • Test small. Try the most promising option in a pilot so that failures are cheap and informative.
  • Scale what works. Expand successful pilots step by step, watching for side effects.
  • Evaluate and repeat. Compare results with the original goal and return to an earlier step when the gap remains.

First principles thinking supports this cycle by breaking a problem into basic facts that are known to be true, then reasoning upward from those facts rather than from habit or analogy.

Collaborative and open problem solving spreads this work across many people. Wikis let contributors define problems, share data, and record what worked, so that knowledge gained in one place can help in another.

Major large-scale problems

Several problems have affected societies for thousands of years.

  • Poverty. Poverty is a lack of income or resources needed for basic needs such as food, shelter, and health care. See also Ending poverty and Eliminating poverty.
  • Disease. Infectious and chronic diseases reduce lifespan and productivity. Clean water, sanitation, and vaccines are among the most effective responses.
  • Criminality. Crime harms victims, raises costs for communities, and reduces trust.
  • Social disorder and disharmony. Conflict between groups, weak institutions, and broken social ties make other problems harder to solve.
  • Starvation. Starvation and chronic hunger result from too little food or too little ability to obtain it. Famines are often caused as much by conflict and failed markets as by poor harvests.
  • Natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods, droughts, and storms cannot be prevented, but warning systems, stronger buildings, and planning reduce their toll.

Access to water connects many of these problems, a theme explored on the older page Enough water for all humans.

Scarcity and the path to abundance

Many large problems can be understood as problems of scarcity, in which there is not enough of something people need, or it costs too much for many to obtain. Historically, several have shrunk as key goods became cheaper.

Extreme poverty is one example. According to World Bank estimates presented by Our World in Data, about 44 percent of the world population lived below the international poverty line of 3 dollars per day in 1990, compared with about 10 percent in 2025, a fall from about 2.3 billion people to about 808 million.[3] Famine mortality has also fallen sharply. Our World in Data reports that the death rate from large famines fell to very low levels during the second half of the twentieth century, aided by higher crop yields, trade, and lower food prices, although conflict still causes famines.[4]

Abundance approaches aim to repeat this pattern. Cheaper energy lowers the cost of pumping, heating, transport, and manufacturing, as discussed in Energy costs and the path to abundance. Desalination turns seawater into fresh water, and its cost falls as energy and membranes improve; see Desalination and the path to water abundance. This matters because, according to the World Health Organization, in 2022 about 6 billion people, or 73 percent of the global population, used a safely managed drinking water service, leaving many still without one.[5] Food technology, from improved crop varieties to microbial protein, raises food supply per unit of land. Open knowledge, shared through libraries and wikis, lets solutions spread at little cost. Measuring progress in terms of working time, as in Time prices and measuring abundance, helps show whether goods are truly becoming more abundant.

  • What is the difference between a tame problem and a wicked problem, and which category best fits poverty?
  • Choose a local problem and apply the five whys technique to it. What root cause appears?
  • Draw a fishbone diagram for a problem in a school or workplace and identify the branch with the most causes.
  • Essay idea: How have cheaper energy and better food technology reduced famine mortality since the nineteenth century?
  • How does this page relate to Problems in living, and when is a problem best treated as individual rather than collective?
  • AI prompt idea: Ask an AI assistant to restate a vague problem as a current state, a desired state, and a list of obstacles.
  • AI prompt idea: Ask an AI assistant to design a small pilot test for a water or food scarcity solution and list ways to measure success.
  • Which large-scale problem in the list above would benefit most from open, wiki based collaboration, and why?

Readings from Wikipedia

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rittel, H. W. J., and Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences 4, 155 to 169.
  2. ↑ Problem solving. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  3. ↑ Poverty. Our World in Data.
  4. ↑ Famines. Our World in Data.
  5. ↑ Drinking-water fact sheet. World Health Organization.
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