Sunday, June 5, 2011

Problem Solving Skills -- Note 2

     (Responses to Note 1 have been encouraging; thank you all)
     If someone important (like my children or theirs) should ask, "Why didn't someone do something?", I want to be able to tell them, "We did."  To take effective action, we must first find an accurate definition of the problem.
     Accurately defining a problem won't guarantee an effective solution, just make it possible.  Likewise, a simple definition of a problem will not mean whatever solutions then available will also be simple.  The Nuclear Problem continues to redouble, largely because (1) we have not clearly defined it, its true nature and root causes, and (2) in the absence of this accurate description, efforts toward solution are misdirected, complicating the problem and causing others additionally.
     As we approach what I think is a clear, accurate definition of the Nuclear Mistake, I believe answers to other Big Questions will become more evident, i.e., How did this happen?  How does this clear definition of one Big Problem relate to other Big Problems?  And not least, Why has this clear definition not been made before?
     When our dependence on Nuke and Fossilized Fuels is compared to an addiction, this is starkly true, an addiction imposed by commercial interests for gain, monopolized and enforced through 'regulations' written by those same commercial interests.  These vast markets then take on a snowballing life of their own, acquiring direction and momentum that carries us along in their train.  Yet this is still merely a description of our SYMPTOMS;  what, simply, is the underlying CAUSE?
     In answer to this question, I suggest Clue #1:
     "Because of the war, corporations have now been enthroned.  This will mean corruption in high places, the aggregation of all wealth in a few hands, and...the end of the Republic."
--  Abraham Lincoln
﻿     I suggest further that this clue has almost everything to do with, not only our dependence on the most dangerous energy sources around, but bears directly upon the undeclared (illegal) wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and a whole lot more.  
     Please let me know what you think.  If this effort toward 'accurate definition' is anywhere close, it will take a LOT of input on prospective solutions.  Thanks, again.  rw

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