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Why Many Problems Persist, Defying Solution.

 

Many problems seem to persist, despite our best efforts to solve them.

There are several reasons. Here are a few types.

·        We don’t have the tools (yet) to solve them, intellectual, theoretical, and/or instrumental. Example. Many a problem begins this way.

·        We don’t know what the real problem is. Example. Explaining matter - from antiquity.

·        We make a solution. It catches on. It becomes the solution until it fails. Then we begin again. New failure. Begin anew, and on and on. Example. Explaining planetary motion took several tries. Fads!

·        We assume what the solution should be and persist in using it even though it fails.

·        Special types of problems, called wicked, are so rich in variables and options, there is no unique solution in almost every sense. What are contrived is a collection of answers, inadequate all, but with no consensus.

·        Politicians intervene in the process, corrupting it, and leading to incorrect solutions. Example. Medicine.

·        The problems are too difficult for the human mind. We try to solve them but fail because we don’t and cannot understand them. (Chomsky)

·        The solution is unknowable – no matter how smart you are. Or it is undecidable, meaning it may be true or false but there is no possible proof of either. (Beginnings?)


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