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Jason Pontin

Editor in Chief/Publisher, MIT's Technology Review

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"Why Can't We Solve Big Problems?"

I'll be giving a TED U Talk in Longbeach at the end of the month. I'll be asking "Why Can't We Solve Big Problems?" I think that blithe optimism about technology’s powers has evaporated as big problems that people had imagined technology would solve, such as hunger, poverty, malaria, climate change, cancer, and the diseases of old age, have come to seem intractably hard.

I'd love to know what the TED Community thinks our difficulties are - or, even if the idea is true at all.

Here's a URL to the story I wrote in MIT Technology Review on the subject: http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429690/why-we-cant-solve-big-problems/

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    Bharath Nagamuthu

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    Mar 5 2013: Technology is binary and problems such as hunger, etc.. is pulse. Binary is not a substitute for pulse and vice versa. Both technology and problems are created by humans. Only we should decide the direction that he/she should take considering the future for our next generation.

    Resolutions = ? until we start to think and feel others pain. Good care would solve the biggest problem but Is it feasible through technology?. I am getting more questions than answers.....

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