Let’s spend this lazy Sunday after Thanksgiving talking about technological progress and how it is changing our world. Fifty years from now everthing we think of as the miracles of technology will be long forgotten and replace by much better tools for life. How’s that for a out-there prediction. 🥸
Ok, let’s get on with the idea of solutions seeking problems.
Technology is advancing at a breakneck speed now, at least compared to the past. But, I kinda think that tomorrow’s speed will make these times seem like a snail’s pace.
I believe my Aspie mindset is geared for looking at the forest to see which trees fit best in the coming times. That gives me an edge when looking at things like solutions and problems.
In the past, technological progress was finding solutions to the problems of the day. It was the proverbial “Building a better mousetrap”. While that still applies to some extent, it certainly doesn’t for paradigm shifting change. A scientific discovery without any specific application is becoming the norm again. We discover something new, and then we try to discover what problems this new thing will solve. Let’s look at two examples from the recent past.
Google started out as an algorithm that could do Internet searches thousands of time faster than anything before
Without the Google search engine, the Internet would not be what it is today. When the algorithm was written, it had no specific application.
DNA
DNA was discovered in the 1860s but was not understood and mapped until the 1950s and beyond. Initially, there was no specific application for the use of DNA. Of course, most of us realize how DNA has changed in the very foundations of healthcare and criminology. Millions of crimes are now solved because of DNA. Originally we needed a large sample of blood to map our DNA, now it can be done with just a few dropped skin cells.
Solutions Seeking Problems – is the future of paradigm shifting applications in the future. It’s as simple as that…
RJ's Corner 