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Problems may be inevitable, why not solutions?

#1
Question  Leigha Offline
''Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.'' - Isaac Asimov

I ran across this quote today, and it got me wondering, why are problems inevitable, and not solutions? I mean, one could avoid a problem, wouldn't that be a solution? (Well, the problem would still exist, despite doing your best to avoid it.) Much of life has to do with solving problems, finding cures, beating the odds. At times, we don't find solutions easily, but if we persevere, wouldn't the solution then be inevitable? There's the ole ''see problems as opportunities'' mindset which takes time to retrain one's mind, in order to see results. But, results will come nonetheless.

But don't we all approach problems differently? If I can't find a solution, others might be able to help me. Hence, solutions are inevitable, I say. It just depends on who is in your inner circle and how much patience you have to find the solutions, together. Wink 

What do you think Asimov was getting at, and do you agree?
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#2
Syne Offline
If problems were not inevitable, we'd never have any reason to innovate. We would've never had a problem with hunting and gathering, and we'd still be doing that today. You can only avoid a problem once you know it exists, which means it already exists. And even avoiding something that already exists is a kind of solution that doesn't necessarily present itself. Success and perseverance are not inevitable. While we presume we will eventually cure cancer and AIDS, there is no guarantee that our efforts won't be forever thwarted by wars, catastrophes, etc.. I'd bet that Covid has really slowed down cancer research.
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#3
C C Offline
(Nov 30, 2020 10:58 PM)Leigha Wrote: What do you think Asimov was getting at, and do you agree?

I've never read "How Easy To See The Future", so could only speculate about what he was addressing. (EDIT: Oh, on second thought, I remembered another "supposed" quote of his. Asimov was arguably high on the role of serendipity in research, which is accidental, not unavoidable. See: The Most Exciting Phrase in Science Is Not ‘Eureka!’ But ‘That’s funny …’ )

People in the deep past coped with troubles and woes in ways that today we might consider inadequate. So varying standards can favor different solutions to a problem -- or more to the point, a loftier criterion can construe some remedies of people as illegitimate. For instance, permanently leaving a town or city around a volcano that's about to blow and smother the surrounding landscape is a solution (an instinctive, reactionary one). But wouldn't be sufficient for a TechnoGod-like, future benchmark that considers stopping the eruption itself to be the satisfactory answer.

Via climate change, we seem to have actually averted the problem of the next ice age. But the remedy was unintended, and may have replaced one predicament with another.

Even with the near-Earth object awareness we possess today, and the movies depicting such challenges, I very much doubt that we could still stop a significant-sized asteroid threat. The engineers and space technology of a few more decades perhaps could, though.

If the sun became as active with giant stellar flares as many stars are that destroy any chance of their planets' habitability, then that's a menace only a Type II or Type III civilization might regulate. Which are in the realm of science fiction (though possible in theory).
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