Thursday, February 02, 2006
Problem Solving
The first step to solving many of the problems that United States and the people of the world faces today, is to recognize and agree to the problems. The second step is to do something to correct the problem and this is often when people will disagree. Many of the problems are constantly evolving over time into larger problems that are more complex. As the problems change and evolve so to must answers.
The American Interstate Highway System is a good example of how problems and answers evolve over time. During the 50s under President Eisenhower the main frame to the United States Interstate was created. Fifty plus years later it is costing more to maintain the roads and bridges than it did to build them. Many of the urban Interstate projects by the time of completion could not serve maximum capacity well and are in a state of gridlock today. As a society evolves and grows so do the problems and answers.
If someone could go back in time from today, so they could tell President Eisenhower the size, cost and problems of the United States Interstate System today. They might have never started to design or build the Interstate system then saying the nation cannot afford it. The point is most people today will not be able recognize the answers to our problems of tomorrow. For someone today to outline the answers to the problems of twenty to fifty years from now they would be consider nuts.
The problem as with so many things in life is time. To set-up and organize into operation takes time. Often by the time the operation is working a whole new set of problem arise changing the problems. Only by understanding the big picture of tomorrow can you start to work on the problems in the little pictures of today. As are the problems so too are answers, they are interwoven and connected to society.
The American Interstate Highway System is a good example of how problems and answers evolve over time. During the 50s under President Eisenhower the main frame to the United States Interstate was created. Fifty plus years later it is costing more to maintain the roads and bridges than it did to build them. Many of the urban Interstate projects by the time of completion could not serve maximum capacity well and are in a state of gridlock today. As a society evolves and grows so do the problems and answers.
If someone could go back in time from today, so they could tell President Eisenhower the size, cost and problems of the United States Interstate System today. They might have never started to design or build the Interstate system then saying the nation cannot afford it. The point is most people today will not be able recognize the answers to our problems of tomorrow. For someone today to outline the answers to the problems of twenty to fifty years from now they would be consider nuts.
The problem as with so many things in life is time. To set-up and organize into operation takes time. Often by the time the operation is working a whole new set of problem arise changing the problems. Only by understanding the big picture of tomorrow can you start to work on the problems in the little pictures of today. As are the problems so too are answers, they are interwoven and connected to society.
