WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.879 Okay, let's get into this. You know those times 00:00:01.879 --> 00:00:05.040 you're trying to tackle a problem maybe at work 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:08.279 or something in your community and it just feels 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:10.960 slippery. Oh, definitely. Like the more you try 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:12.839 to get a handle on it, the harder it is to even 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:15.419 define. And everyone seems to see it completely 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:18.199 differently. Absolutely. Some challenges just 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:20.219 feel fundamentally different. They're not like 00:00:20.250 --> 00:00:23.109 the puzzles we solve in, say, science or engineering. 00:00:23.649 --> 00:00:27.329 They really defy that kind of neat, clear definition 00:00:27.329 --> 00:00:30.050 and, you know, that sense of resolution we often 00:00:30.050 --> 00:00:32.750 expect. Exactly. It's not like fixing a, I don't 00:00:32.750 --> 00:00:34.929 know, a broken engine or solving a math equation. 00:00:35.570 --> 00:00:37.409 And there's actually a framework for understanding 00:00:37.409 --> 00:00:40.909 this. It came about back in 1973 from Horst Rotel 00:00:40.909 --> 00:00:44.609 and Melvin Weber. Urban planners? Yeah. And in 00:00:44.609 --> 00:00:47.710 their work, they drew this really sharp line 00:00:47.710 --> 00:00:50.869 between what they call tame problems and something 00:00:50.869 --> 00:00:53.570 much, much trickier, wicked problems. And that 00:00:53.570 --> 00:00:56.049 distinction is so key. It's not just about being 00:00:56.049 --> 00:00:58.590 complex or difficult. It's about the actual nature 00:00:58.590 --> 00:01:01.969 of the problem. So our mission, really, in this 00:01:01.969 --> 00:01:04.469 deep dive is to unpack that Riddle and Weber 00:01:04.469 --> 00:01:07.209 framework. What makes a problem wicked? How is 00:01:07.209 --> 00:01:11.540 that different from a tame one? And crucially, 00:01:12.459 --> 00:01:14.640 why is recognizing that difference change everything 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:16.859 about how you'd even approach it? Okay, so let's 00:01:16.859 --> 00:01:18.879 start with the side we probably recognize more 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:22.060 easily. Tame problems. What do they mean by tame? 00:01:22.250 --> 00:01:25.530 Well, tame problems are the ones where, generally 00:01:25.530 --> 00:01:27.689 speaking, you can agree on what the problem is. 00:01:27.769 --> 00:01:30.049 You can define it. OK. You can understand it, 00:01:30.090 --> 00:01:32.790 maybe attribute it to one or just a few clear 00:01:32.790 --> 00:01:35.349 causes. And really importantly, there's usually 00:01:35.349 --> 00:01:37.709 a shared understanding of when it's actually 00:01:37.709 --> 00:01:39.969 solved. Ah, so you know when you've reached the 00:01:39.969 --> 00:01:41.750 finish line. Exactly. You know when you're done. 00:01:41.829 --> 00:01:44.430 So you can tackle them systematically. Use scientific 00:01:44.430 --> 00:01:46.989 methods, engineering approaches, guided by clear 00:01:46.989 --> 00:01:49.709 goals. You know, systems thinking helps find 00:01:49.709 --> 00:01:52.359 the best path to that defined solution. But tame 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:54.420 doesn't mean simple, right? I mean, building 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:56.500 a suspension bridge must be a tame problem in 00:01:56.500 --> 00:02:00.280 this sense, but it's incredibly complex. Precisely. 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:03.480 Yeah, tame isn't about easy or unimportant. These 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:07.519 can be huge, vital undertakings. Think about 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.000 developing a new vaccine or designing a city's 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.939 sanitation system, improving crop yields through, 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:16.259 you know, agricultural science. These are complex, 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:19.020 definitely. Lots of variables, ethical questions 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:23.229 sometimes. Sure. They fit that structure. Definable 00:02:23.229 --> 00:02:26.349 problem, understandable process, mostly consensual 00:02:26.349 --> 00:02:29.389 goals and solutions. And tackling these tame 00:02:29.389 --> 00:02:32.129 problems, well, it's changed the world, hasn't 00:02:32.129 --> 00:02:34.169 it? Oh, without a doubt. A massive amount of 00:02:34.169 --> 00:02:36.270 human progress, better health, infrastructure, 00:02:36.530 --> 00:02:39.430 feeding billions. It comes from applying these 00:02:39.430 --> 00:02:41.830 systematic methods to solve these, well, tame 00:02:41.830 --> 00:02:44.009 challenges. Okay, but here's the pivot. Riddle 00:02:44.009 --> 00:02:46.669 and Weber looked at problems in their field. 00:02:47.009 --> 00:02:50.460 Urban planning. social policy. And they realized 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:53.400 these problems just don't fit that mold. They 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:55.240 argued most social problems are fundamentally 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:57.340 not tame. And that's where they coined the term 00:02:57.340 --> 00:02:59.699 wicked problems. Unlike the tame ones, wicked 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:01.879 problems, well, they often can't be easily understood 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:04.419 or even completely defined. There's often deep 00:03:04.419 --> 00:03:06.360 disagreement about what the problem really is 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:08.340 or even if it's a problem at all for some people. 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:11.580 Just reaching consensus on its nature or how 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:14.520 you might resolve it, it's incredibly difficult. 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:18.020 So any understanding feels provisional. Very 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:20.419 much so. Tentative is a good word. Judgments 00:03:20.419 --> 00:03:22.400 are difficult. And we're talking about things 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.219 like education reform, or dealing with chronic 00:03:26.219 --> 00:03:29.539 homelessness, or maybe local governance conflicts. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:31.500 Exactly the kinds of issues they were grappling 00:03:31.500 --> 00:03:33.560 with. And their really crucial insight, the main 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:36.979 takeaway, was this. The methods and the mindsets 00:03:36.979 --> 00:03:40.000 that work so well for tame problems. They simply 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.620 will not produce adequate solutions for wicked 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:45.490 ones. So trying to treat a wicked problem like 00:03:45.490 --> 00:03:47.770 it's tame. It actually gets in the way. It's 00:03:47.770 --> 00:03:50.090 an impediment to planning, they said. It's often 00:03:50.090 --> 00:03:52.629 counterproductive. Wow. OK, so that's a fundamental 00:03:52.629 --> 00:03:55.530 shift. It's not just a harder version of a tame 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:57.490 problem. It needs a completely different way 00:03:57.490 --> 00:04:00.050 of thinking. Absolutely. Wicked problems demand 00:04:00.050 --> 00:04:02.129 different planning approaches, different kinds 00:04:02.129 --> 00:04:05.530 of actions, and really different ways of even 00:04:05.530 --> 00:04:08.129 evaluating if you're making any headway. So like 00:04:08.129 --> 00:04:11.150 efficiency? That's great for tame problems, right? 00:04:11.229 --> 00:04:13.229 Getting the bridge built on time, on budget. 00:04:13.509 --> 00:04:16.149 Right. But it doesn't make much sense for a wicked 00:04:16.149 --> 00:04:18.910 problem, where the goal itself might be completely 00:04:18.910 --> 00:04:21.949 contested or unclear. What are you being efficient 00:04:21.949 --> 00:04:24.990 towards? Good point. Okay, so let's really dig 00:04:24.990 --> 00:04:27.639 into why they're so different. What gives them 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:30.040 this wickedness? Well, a lot of it comes down 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:32.680 to their social nature. The fact that they involve 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:35.720 diverse groups of people all with their own valid 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:39.060 but often conflicting viewpoints and values. 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:42.220 Riddle and Weber laid out several specific characteristics. 00:04:42.379 --> 00:04:43.839 Okay, let's walk through them. The first one 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.240 that always strikes me is that they're ill -defined 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:50.100 or no definitive formulation. Right. You can't 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:52.600 just write down a neat problem statement for 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:55.500 a wicked problem like you can for, say, a math 00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:57.819 theorem. The boundaries are fuzzy. What does 00:04:57.819 --> 00:05:00.139 that mean, fuzzy boundaries? It means it's hard 00:05:00.139 --> 00:05:02.759 to tell where the problem stops and its context 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:05.019 begins. And what's really tricky is that the 00:05:05.019 --> 00:05:07.639 way you understand the problem is totally tangled 00:05:07.639 --> 00:05:10.060 up with the solution you might propose. How so? 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:12.879 Well, if you suggest one type of solution, you're 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.759 often implicitly defining the problem in a particular 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.620 way. suggests a different solution, and you're 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:21.879 kind of redefining the problem itself. You can't 00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:24.519 cleanly separate understanding the problem from 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:26.720 formulating a solution. Cause and effect get 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.500 blurred. So you can't just, like, run diagnostics 00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:31.720 and find the single root cause in isolation the 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:33.980 way you might with a machine. Not really, no. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.819 The causes are often deeply embedded in the whole 00:05:36.819 --> 00:05:40.000 social system, and they're intertwined with potential 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.290 solutions, which leads to the next point. There's 00:05:43.290 --> 00:05:45.470 no stopping rule. Unlike our bridge, where you 00:05:45.470 --> 00:05:47.029 know it's finished when traffic can cross it. 00:05:47.269 --> 00:05:50.370 Exactly. With a wicked problem, there's no natural 00:05:50.370 --> 00:05:53.189 or logical or agreed -upon point where you can 00:05:53.189 --> 00:05:55.550 definitively say, OK, solved, we're done here. 00:05:55.730 --> 00:05:58.149 So it just keeps going. You might reach a point 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:01.509 where things seem better or an approach is deemed 00:06:01.509 --> 00:06:04.189 good enough for now given the current politics 00:06:04.189 --> 00:06:07.509 or resources. But conditions always change. People's 00:06:07.509 --> 00:06:10.300 priorities shift. So there's always room for 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:12.819 improvement or refinement or even completely 00:06:12.819 --> 00:06:15.019 new approaches down the line. I think you used 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:17.160 the sandcastle analogy before we started recording. 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:20.240 You can always add another turret. Exactly. Or 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.759 dig the moat deeper. You just decide to stop 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:24.740 working on it at some point. Maybe because you 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:26.759 run out of time or energy or the tide's coming 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:29.459 in. But the problem itself hasn't vanished. It's 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:32.620 just changed state. Precisely. It's just in a 00:06:32.620 --> 00:06:35.240 different state. And because there's no clear 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:38.000 stopping rule, it follows that there's also no 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.819 ultimate evaluation. Meaning you can't just stamp 00:06:40.819 --> 00:06:43.740 a solution correct or incorrect. Right. True 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:46.759 or false. Right. Solutions to wicked problems 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.800 aren't judged as true false or accomplished, 00:06:49.879 --> 00:06:52.339 not accomplished in some final objective way. 00:06:52.740 --> 00:06:55.379 They tend to be judged as better or worse, maybe 00:06:55.379 --> 00:06:58.399 good enough, acceptable or unacceptable. Judged 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.120 by them. By the people affected. And those judgments 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.639 are inherently subjective. They're based on people's 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:06.000 values, their unique perspectives, their circumstances, 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:09.339 which are always changing. What one group sees 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:11.199 as a definite improvement, another group might 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:14.160 see as making things worse. So relying purely 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.399 on, say, quantitative metrics won't cut it. Oh, 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.740 far from it. You could have a single program, 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:23.839 let's say a new school curriculum. It might get 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.800 positive reviews based on initial test scores, 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:28.699 right? Yeah. Let's go down paper. But maybe years 00:07:28.699 --> 00:07:31.199 later, people realize those same students struggle 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.279 with critical thinking in college. So the evaluation 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:37.360 shifts. It becomes negative. Success is completely 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.980 dependent on whose perspective you adopt, what 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:42.420 criteria they value, and when you're actually 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:45.680 asking the question. That sounds messy. And it 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:47.839 leads into another really difficult characteristic. 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:51.319 Every solution matters. And this idea that there's 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:54.339 no right to be wrong in the way a scientist might 00:07:54.339 --> 00:07:56.819 test a hypothesis. Yeah, this one carries a lot 00:07:56.819 --> 00:07:59.000 of weight. Unlike, say, building engineering 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:01.120 prototypes that you can test and discard if they 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.579 fail. Or running simulations. Exactly. When you 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:05.899 implement an approach to a wicked social problem, 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.220 it has real, tangible, and often irreversible 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:11.360 consequences for the people involved. You can't 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:13.800 just try out a solution on a community and then 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.339 say, oops, didn't work. let's scrap it without 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:19.360 having caused real impact, maybe harm. Like changing 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:21.180 how reading is taught in elementary schools. 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:23.240 That fundamentally affects those kids' futures, 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:25.800 right? You can't just hit rewind. Exactly. You 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.180 don't get a do -over on the same group of people 00:08:28.180 --> 00:08:31.139 without consequences. And this places a huge 00:08:31.139 --> 00:08:34.080 ethical responsibility on anyone trying to intervene 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.860 in a wicked problem. You have to act with the 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:39.419 best possible information and judgment, knowing 00:08:39.419 --> 00:08:41.799 the stakes are high. And given all this complexity, 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:44.379 just copying a solution that seemed to work somewhere 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:47.440 else, probably a bad idea. Very likely, yes. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:51.080 Which brings us to the next point. Each wicked 00:08:51.080 --> 00:08:54.539 problem is unique. And therefore, each wicked 00:08:54.539 --> 00:08:57.360 solution is unique, too. Why unique? Because 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:00.139 the specific context, the history of the place, 00:09:00.379 --> 00:09:02.659 the local culture, the particular mix of people 00:09:02.659 --> 00:09:05.379 involved, the political dynamics, the economic 00:09:05.379 --> 00:09:08.059 situation, all these factors interact in incredibly 00:09:08.059 --> 00:09:10.559 complex ways. You simply can't replicate those 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:13.559 conditions perfectly from one city or one organization 00:09:13.559 --> 00:09:16.320 or one community to another. So taking a successful 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.600 anti -poverty program from city A and just dropping 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:21.159 it into city B, no guarantee it works the same 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:24.090 way. Absolutely not. It might fail spectacularly 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:27.350 or have completely unforeseen side effects. This 00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:29.629 uniqueness means there's no standard playbook, 00:09:30.110 --> 00:09:32.730 no set of best practices you can just pull off 00:09:32.730 --> 00:09:36.840 the shelf. So you need... what? Creativity. Yes. 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:40.700 Innovation, creativity, deep contextual understanding. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:43.860 You have to design approaches tailored specifically 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:46.659 to that unique situation. Unlike a game like 00:09:46.659 --> 00:09:49.460 chess, with fixed rules and a defined set of 00:09:49.460 --> 00:09:52.360 possible moves, with wicked problems, there are 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:54.620 no predefined limits on potential solutions. 00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:57.320 You essentially have to invent them. And it gets 00:09:57.320 --> 00:09:58.820 even more tangled, doesn't it? Because these 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:01.000 problems don't exist in neat little boxes. They're 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.659 interconnected. Right. Deeply so. Wicked problems 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:07.120 are almost always part of a larger network of 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.940 problems. One issue might be a symptom of a deeper 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:12.100 problem or a cause of several others or maybe 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:14.259 both. Like pulling on a single thread in a sweater. 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:17.139 And the whole thing shifts, yeah. Trying to solve 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:19.639 just one piece in isolation is incredibly difficult, 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:22.379 maybe impossible. And worse, your well -intentioned 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:24.679 solution in one area might trigger completely 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.299 new unexpected problems somewhere else in the 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:30.789 system. You fix traffic congestion here and suddenly 00:10:30.789 --> 00:10:32.590 parking becomes a nightmare over there. That 00:10:32.590 --> 00:10:35.190 kind of thing, exactly. And you often don't have 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:37.809 control over all the factors that are influencing 00:10:37.809 --> 00:10:39.809 the problem or the potential outcomes of your 00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:43.309 actions. An external event, a political shift, 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:47.149 resistance from a powerful group. Any of these 00:10:47.149 --> 00:10:49.830 can derail even the most carefully planned approach. 00:10:50.149 --> 00:10:52.929 OK, that interconnection and lack of control 00:10:52.929 --> 00:10:56.539 definitely ramp up the wickedness. Now. The last 00:10:56.539 --> 00:10:58.039 characteristic you mentioned, and maybe this 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:02.379 is the most fundamental, is multiple valid perceptions. 00:11:02.820 --> 00:11:04.919 Yeah, this really gets to the heart of the social 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:07.879 dimension. The very same situation, the same 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:10.919 problem, can be described and understood accurately, 00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:13.620 but in completely different, even contradictory 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:16.080 ways, by the different people or groups involved. 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:17.960 You mean they're not just disagreeing, they actually 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:20.980 see it differently? Yes. And their views can 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:23.919 all be valid from their own standpoint. Riddle 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.259 and Weber gave this fantastic, vivid example 00:11:26.259 --> 00:11:28.399 from a real -world debate about school funding. 00:11:28.820 --> 00:11:30.820 Members of the same community described their 00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:34.379 local schools as, listen to this, a glorified 00:11:34.379 --> 00:11:37.340 babysitting service, an unbearable burden on 00:11:37.340 --> 00:11:40.200 the taxpayer, the best investment in our future, 00:11:40.379 --> 00:11:43.179 and a priceless source of community pride. Wow. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:45.600 All those things at once. How about the same 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.980 school? Exactly. And from the perspective of 00:11:47.980 --> 00:11:50.279 the person saying each phrase, their description 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:52.679 felt entirely true and justified based on their 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:54.980 own experiences, their values, their priorities. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:57.740 So there's no single objective truth about the 00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:00.720 school system in that case? Precisely. This highlights 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.019 that with wicked problems, people's subjective 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.220 experiences aren't just noise to be filtered 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:08.159 out. They are the reality you have to work with. 00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:10.980 Understanding those diverse, valid perspectives 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:14.059 is absolutely key to even be to navigate the 00:12:14.059 --> 00:12:16.700 problem. Okay, so putting it all together. This 00:12:16.700 --> 00:12:19.970 framework paints a picture of wicked problems 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:23.470 as these really messy, complex social challenges. 00:12:23.870 --> 00:12:26.669 They have no clear definition, no single right 00:12:26.669 --> 00:12:29.950 solution, no definite endpoint. They're judged 00:12:29.950 --> 00:12:32.970 subjectively, unique to their context, tangled 00:12:32.970 --> 00:12:35.450 up with other problems, and viewed in fundamentally 00:12:35.450 --> 00:12:37.629 different ways by the people involved. That's 00:12:37.629 --> 00:12:41.049 a great summary. And crucially, trying to tackle 00:12:41.049 --> 00:12:43.450 them with the tools and mindset suited for tame 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:46.210 problems, that systematic, find the optimal solution 00:12:46.210 --> 00:12:48.370 approach, it just doesn't work. It misses the 00:12:48.370 --> 00:12:50.409 point. point so this whole framework it's valuable 00:12:50.409 --> 00:12:53.730 because what it helps make sense of why some 00:12:53.730 --> 00:12:56.669 of those huge persistent challenges we see in 00:12:56.669 --> 00:12:58.529 society in our organization maybe even in our 00:12:58.529 --> 00:13:00.970 own lives why they feel so hard so controversial 00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:04.389 so ongoing exactly it gives you a language a 00:13:04.389 --> 00:13:07.330 lens to understand that feeling of intractability 00:13:07.330 --> 00:13:09.269 and it really shifts your expectations doesn't 00:13:09.269 --> 00:13:11.049 it you kind of stop thinking okay how do we solve 00:13:11.049 --> 00:13:13.070 this once and for all and you start asking different 00:13:13.070 --> 00:13:15.570 questions You really do. You move away from searching 00:13:15.570 --> 00:13:18.289 for the optimal permanent fix. Instead, the focus 00:13:18.289 --> 00:13:20.929 shifts towards things like managing the inherent 00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:23.250 complexity, learning how to navigate all those 00:13:23.250 --> 00:13:25.950 different valid perspectives, finding approaches 00:13:25.950 --> 00:13:28.490 that are maybe good enough or better for now, 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:31.409 and critically building in the ability to constantly 00:13:31.409 --> 00:13:34.570 adapt as the situation inevitably evolves. So 00:13:34.570 --> 00:13:37.129 for you listening, really grasping this difference 00:13:37.129 --> 00:13:39.509 between tame and wicked problems the way Riddle 00:13:39.509 --> 00:13:42.289 and Weber laid it out. It can genuinely change 00:13:42.289 --> 00:13:44.649 how you think about tackling the really tough 00:13:44.649 --> 00:13:47.309 stuff, especially anything involving diverse 00:13:47.309 --> 00:13:49.370 groups of people and complex social systems. 00:13:49.669 --> 00:13:52.529 It really underscores the purely technical or 00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:55.389 engineering mindset. While incredibly powerful 00:13:55.389 --> 00:13:57.549 for certain kinds of problems, the tame ones 00:13:57.549 --> 00:13:59.970 is just insufficient on its own when you're dealing 00:13:59.970 --> 00:14:02.809 with issues rooted in diverse human values, tangled 00:14:02.809 --> 00:14:05.450 histories and interconnected social realities. 00:14:05.509 --> 00:14:07.389 You need something more. Which kind of leaves 00:14:07.389 --> 00:14:09.370 us with a big question to ponder, doesn't it? 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:13.559 If these wicked problems truly have no definitive 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.940 solutions in the traditional sense, no clear 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:20.399 finish lines, and their outcomes are judged subjectively 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.460 from all these different valid viewpoints, then 00:14:23.460 --> 00:14:25.360 when we engage with them, what should the real 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:28.360 goal actually be? Is it progress as we normally 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:31.159 define it? Is it about building resilience? Is 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:33.960 it just continuous adaptation? Or is it maybe 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:35.519 something else entirely, something that isn't 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:36.799 really about solving at all?