Top 10 World Problems.

The world has changed in the past century more than the rest of its lifetime combined. This pace of change only gets faster by the day. Many belief we have come a long way to figuring out how to optimize our lives, however the more solutions we find, it often appears, the more setbacks we face. Here the list of the top 10 problems of the world that I personally am concerned about.

  1) Global Warming

Despite the fact that the scientific community has come to an almost absolute agreement (97%) that the climate of our planet is rising due to human activity and that the implications essential to our existence, this problem is today’s most concerning because it has proven extremely difficult to get any agreement on the measures each player should take to tackle the problem. This tragedy of the commons element to it, where every country acting on its individual self interest continues to ignore the problem risks leading to irreversible damage and our ultimate destruction. This problem becomes yet more complex when taking into consideration that an economy like China faces huge trade off in reducing its emission having to feed 1.3 billion people and the fact that least gas emissions may end up being first and largest victims of the catastrophic consequences. Hence Global Warming related issues may turn to become main source of future conflicts and is already considered the number one national security threat to United States.

The solution to Global Warming is very difficult to provide. Many of same scientists claim that there is enough clean energy to be produced for us to sustain ourselves at current levels of consumption. Although complete transformation at that scale would take time, it should at least start to make country specific plans of moving away from fossil fuels and set clear and numeric benchmarks. Countries who do not challenge their limits in achieving this transformation after they have gotten help and expertise by developed nations should be sanctioned by international community.

 

      2) Syrian Refuge Crisis

The 4 million civilians displaced from war zones in Syria can simply not be ignored, though accommodating them has proven very difficult for any single country. Given the the characteristics of the organization driving them out (ISIS) and their ability to mask insurgents as refugees makes admitting and helping  refugees an even more complex issue.

Turkey and Lebanon and Germany cannot handle this crisis alone. If we refuse to take some of their 3 million refugees into our countries, in proportion to our resources, we need to provide Turkey and Lebanon every help they need to sustain the refugees in their respective countries and be grateful for the rare kindship they have shown so far.

3) ISIS cyber reach

It took a terrorist organization like ISIS no more than 2 years to travel from non-existence to world prominence. We have realized the very hard way that the tools we have built to faciliate our lives can be used similarly to facilitate any enterprise. The most concerning element of ISIS being their ability to recruite to reach, brainwash and recruite people across the globe. Never before was it possible for any organization of any kind could find ways to appeal to your kid in his/her bedroom without you knowing, and that has been the fate of many families from U.S. to Australia.

Cyber problems require cyber solutions. United States can’t get absorbed and count solely in military solutions. Intelligence agencies of US have some of best computer engineers in the world and they should be utulized in shutting ISIS out of the internet in every way possible; keep them out of reaching US citizens or any other country where they’re taking of advantage of economic despair to lure people into their organization.

     4) Over population

Quite obviously many of these issues are interralated and sometimes directly causing one another. Population growth in my opinion has gotten out of control as a result industrial revolution and everything that followed. We have been reluctant to ever face this topic as humankind for various reasons and our eccentric view as a species has not helped.

Personally I think we shouldn’t wait to get to China’s population to think about limiations in family size. Limited number of children policies, as contraversial as they may be are the only solution until we start migrating to a different planet, because this one is not growing bigger anytime soon.

        5) Unplanned globalization

When the 2008 financial crisis broke out in U.S., suddenly Ireland declared bankruptcy. The extent to which we are interconnected today is often understated and just like it provides with amazing opportunities makes one’s problem everybody’s problem. On the other hand we continue to have no world organization powerful enough to regulate and/or enforce sensible rules and maintain order. And when crisis hit, regardless to where they orginiated they generate potential for increasing tension and hatred between nations that could also lead to conflicts.

United Nations should be given more executive powers, powers that would be managed by integrated teams of representatives that have a stake at global issues and thus make it as fair as transparent as possible.

  

6) Chinese building bubble

China being the most over populated country in the world has been forced to try play a dangerous game at trying to manipulate the financial trilemma. This economic principle known also as impossible trinity says that you cannot have free flow of capital, sovereign monetary policy and fixed exchange rates all at once. However, China has managed to bend the triangle in the past few decades, emerging as one of fastest growing economies in the world, that is necessary to be able to sustain its over 1.3 billion people. However, it is believed this is no more than a bubble whose burst’s implications will be catastrophic for the world economy and the extent of which is unimaginable.

Although extremely politically unpopular, the world needs to recognize that China need not only be critized for the bubble in the making, but need be helped to deflate the balloon before too late, and if any type of aid is what it takes, whether advisory or in resources, those countries capable should provide it.

  

 7)  Income inequality 

Technology and development has enabled accumulation of large amounts of wealth in hands of very few. If every new dollar created in U.S. economy goes automatically to the top 0.1 % for much longer and middle class wages continue to stagnate, the status quo will eventually be challenged for there is no reason for people to believe that system in place, however we created it, is a fair one.

Taxation is often a very contentious political issue but in fact, a reformed taxation system could very effectively help a distribution of wealth in a way that’s relatively fair and at the same time doesn’t discourage individualism and entrepreneurial spirit.

 8) Casino - modeled capitalism

The way we have allowed this income equality to develop is by creating an economic system that is designed to encourage everyone to work hard and be rewarded for the effort made. However, this system has enabled organizations to grow to the extent in which in their self interested pursuit of growth and profit can unfairly crush the very fundamental values of the system. Moreover given today’s economy’s complexity, the ingredients it takes to become a giant player may be often a coincidental combination of circumstances (the casino element of it), and then it becomes easier to maintain that status by applying monopolistic  behavior.

Despite numerous devastating crisis that bring everybody down, we somehow never learn to stay ahead of an upcoming crisis and prevent it on time. One example of such is financial system. Sensible regulation is the way to go here.

9)    Artificial Intelligence

This is another field that we can’t all exactly wrap the hands around conceptually, and as a result cannot predict where it is headed. The concept of intelligence explosion has been around since 1950s and the speed at which capabilities of technology are multiplying could also get out of control before we can do anything about it.

This problem is so abstract that I can’t really imagine what the solution to it could look like.

  

         

10 ) Obesity and food related epidemics

If two out of three Americans have some type of problem with obesity that should be alarming for any developed, developing and underdeveloped nation. This world problem is specific in the fact that it is difficult for people to plan and analyze far ahead to understand that it’s better to pay the local farmer today than the hospital later in life. That is not the only reason why it happens though. Given the power of food corporations and costs of living it’s many people’s only choice.  

Same solution to number 8 applies to this problem.