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Wicked Problems

In Human-Centric Functional Modeling it is hypothesized that a wicked problem for an individual is one that is defined by a longer path through a greater density of concepts in conceptual space than an individual cognition can reliably reason through. A wicked problem for a group without a collective cognition is one that is defined by a longer path through a greater density of concepts in the conceptual spaces of the individuals, than they can reliably reason through. A wicked problem for a collective cognition is one that is defined by a longer path through a greater density of concepts in the collective conceptual space, than the group can reliably reason through. Since a collective cognition is predicted to have the potential capacity for exponentially greater intelligence, what is a wicked problem for an individual might not be a wicked problem for a GCI. Consider a simple thought experiment. Humans might be able to reliably solve the problem of deciphering how three animals interact in an ecosystem to achieve a given outcome. But at some point, as the numbers of those animals increase, the number of possible interactions becomes too great to explore, and by the time we get to 20,000 species, human beings are reliably unable to understand any given function of those interactions, and gaining this understanding becomes a "wicked problem" for a human that isn't reliably solvable. Any problem we can't yet reliably solve, from poverty, to climate change, might be a wicked problem, because we can't know how many interactions are involved in understanding it until we succeed in developing that understanding and proving that understanding to be valid. If as predicted GCI is able to exponentially increase our intelligence, then for the first time in history, solving what are considered wicked problems today might become reliably achievable.