A New Category of Impossible Problems

Consider a new category of problems, impossible because they exist without clear solutions. In some cases, there are no possible solutions. Many of these problems are deeply embedded in systems, often going unnoticed or unrecognized. Corporate or national interests can easily conceal their presence or remain unaware of them. There may come a day when systems become so vast that they must be rejected, as their failure could lead to global disaster. Here are five examples, many of which involve significant government involvement in their creation.

A. Global System Dependencies

No company should be so globally pervasive that a failure in its systems could cause a worldwide catastrophe. This is particularly true for critical systems like airline booking, television networks, and health systems. For example, a technical issue identified by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike in its antivirus software for Microsoft Windows devices could have had catastrophic consequences. Although engineers fixed this issue, the dependency on global software must be mitigated. This incident occurred on July 19, 2024. However, finding a solution, even with the resolve to do so, remains a significant challenge.

B. Political Control Over Technology

Similarly, no company should have its hardware reporting users' private business to a political entity. This is the concern with Huawei Technologies Co., headquartered in Shenzhen, China, which has been scrutinized for its potential to compromise user privacy for political purposes.

C. Trustworthy Inspection of Passenger Jets

No company should be allowed to sell passenger jets to airlines without thorough and trustworthy inspections by capable engineers. The issues faced by Boeing Co. with its big jets provide a widely reported example of the dangers of inadequate inspections and the potential risks to passenger safety.

D. Certifiable Medical Products

No company should be permitted to market drugs, including vaccines, without reliable and certifiable inspections by qualified medical and statistical experts. Companies like Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax have faced scrutiny over the safety and efficacy of their products. Additionally, the long-standing recommendation for middle-aged men to take aspirin daily to prevent heart disease has been debunked recently, highlighting the potential dangers of incorrect medical advice. This reveals a deeper problem: traditional and even modern medical prescriptions can be wrong and counterproductive.

E. Errant Governmental Mandates

The worst types of these problems arise from misguided governmental mandates made for economic, humanitarian, health, or environmental reasons based on various quasi-scientific sources. Examples include the closure of disapproved energy sources in favor of alternates, regardless of the consequences, open immigration policies, and the deployment of massive military hardware. Governments, regardless of political affiliation, often act without self-reflection or consciousness. Governments do not think.

Such examples are consequences of modern times, seemingly inevitable, natural, and unavoidable. Nevertheless, they must be addressed, or the problems will worsen. These issues will not self-solve or self-correct. Solutions will not come from amateurs in their garages. With computer codes comprising millions of lines, projects costing billions of dollars, highly complex machinery, and ordinary people making decisions they scarcely understand, these problems are immense and require expert intervention.

Lies, Deceit, and the National Agenda

The world you grew up in is no more. The world of reasonable honesty and reasonable lies has been replaced by abject dishonesty and blatant lies. Lies. Yes. People have always told them. You have told them; so have I. We need lies; they are a foundational structure of social living. They both deceive and protect. Children tell them to their parents to avoid consequences, like punishment. Adults tell them to their bosses, to enhance their position and/or avoid consequences of poor performance. Our bosses tell them to their boards to suggest business is good, the project is on target, or the detractors are wrong. The boards tell them to shareholders to protect their own credibility and most importantly, stock values. Our politicians tell lies to their constituents, though sometimes innocently with them not actually knowing much more than they've been told. They enhance their positio...

Behavioral Science and Problem-Solving

I. I. Introduction. Concerning our general behavior, it’s high about time we all had some understanding of how we operate on ourselves, and it is just as important how we are operated on by others. This is the wheelhouse of behavioral sciences. It is a vast subject. It touches our lives constantly. It’s influence is pervasive and can be so subtle we never notice it. Behavioral sciences profoundly affect our ability and success at problem-solving, from the elementary level to highly complex wicked problems. This is discussed in Section IV. We begin with the basics of behavioral sciences, Section II, and then through the lens of multiple categories and examples, Section III. II. ...

UNCERTAINTY IS CERTAIN

Uncertainty is Certain G. Donald Allen 12/12/2024 1. Introduction . This short essay is about uncertainty in people from both secular and nonsecular viewpoints. One point that will emerge is that randomly based uncertainty can be a driver for religious structure. Many groups facing uncertainty about their future are deeply religious or rely on faith as a source of comfort, resilience, and guidance. The intersection of uncertainty and religiosity often stems from the human need to find meaning, hope, and stability in the face of unpredictable or challenging circumstances. We first take up the connections of uncertainty to religion for the first real profession, farming, noting that hunting has many similar uncertainties. Below are groups that commonly lean on religious beliefs amidst uncertainty. This short essay is a follow-up to a previous piece on certainty (https://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2024/12/certainty-is-also-emotion.html). U...

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