Society loves a silver bullet.  When we are attempting to solve a problem we tend to be attracted to the possibility of finding a grand solution in an effort to simplify our lives.  Who can blame us?  For most us life is fairly hectic and complicated and anything we can do to reduce complexity is a relief.  However, what many of us have learned is that in most cases solving big problems is better done by implementing a variety of smaller solutions and applying them over time and with consistency.

Here we would do well to learn from Nature.  The most stable and efficient ecosystems are the ones with the greatest diversity of species.  When ecosystems loose diversity they become more vulnerable to disease and environmental challenges.  There is a good article on the Bright Future website entitled Electric Power Plants - Size Matters which goes into more detail about how this works.  Solving a problem as big and complicated as the energy crisis requires a variety of solutions working together to provide reliability and efficiency. The article goes into detail about how this works with electrical power production.

This brings us to The Mother of All Solutions which is very simple in concept, but complex in its implementation.  For many years I have spent most of my time researching solutions to society’s greatest challenges.  The one variable that is the most consistent in that search is education.  If there is a silver bullet out there it is that combination of knowledge, awareness and experience that we call education.

As we increase our level of knowledge, awareness and experience we become more capable of solving complex problems and tend to make better decisions.  Think about the last time you had to make a decision but lacked sufficient information to truly understand your options.  This is a prime example of how ignorance is not bliss!

To simplify our discussion we will use the term education to denote the combination of knowledge, awareness and experience.  On the website are many examples of how education helps solve complex problems.  Let’s take a look at just a few of these articles.

In Fighting Terrorism with Education we learn about how an American mountain climber is building schools in some of the small villages in Central Asia.  In these villages the Taliban a tough sell when attempting to recruit young people to train as potential terrorists.  Other benefits include decreased infant mortality and poverty rates.  In general the entire culture provides an improved quality of life after a significant number of the villagers becomes better educated.

Check out Lessons from Ireland on Economic Growth to learn about how Ireland made education a priority when they decided to jump-start their economy in the 80’s.  By the mid-nineties Ireland had created one the fastest growing economies in the world.  Today Irish citizens enjoy a standard of living that was just a dream before these changes were made.  They even made progress on the ongoing conflict between Catholics and Protestants that has plagued their society for more years than most of us can remember.

For progress on another type of social problem take a look at Comprehensive Sex Education which shows how some countries have made great progress in reducing teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases by providing more and better information to teenagers. Even though these kids learn more about sex than kids in other countries they actually wait longer before having intercourse for the first time.

What about solving overpopulation?  You might enjoy reading Solving Population Growth the Easy Way.  The article demonstrates a direct relationship between the level of education of women in a society and birthrates per capita.

These are just a few examples of how increasing access to improved formal education can help solve a variety of complex social problems.  What about the other ways we learn and grow?

For most of us the media (this includes books, newspapers and magazines) is our source of information about what is happening out in the world beyond our day to day experience. The degree to which we have access to this information and take the time to read, listen and watch, the more capable we are of understanding things outside our own personal experience.

The other key way in which we learn is through experience.  Someone who has traveled the world and had a variety of careers is much more aware of how others see things than someone who has never left their home town.

This is as far as we are going to go today with The Mother of All Solutions.  Stay tuned next week for part 2 in this series where we will be taking a closer look at how we can increase the quality of information we receive from the media and expand our life experiences.  We will explore some examples of how these changes can help us solve some of the big complex challenges that confront us as we move further into the 21^st Century.