Ad hoc solutions to wicked problems: Pandemics and other challenges in context

Abstract

Wicked problems are considered to be any social, cultural, or other challenges that are difficult to address and hard to devise an effective and sustainable solution for. The utopic wishful thinking humanity relied on for so many decades, that technology and science alone, like a new Deus ex machina, would ultimately save us from any problematic situation we would ever face, and from any possible catastrophe we would ever confront, proved to be unrealistic. Catastrophe is a compound Greek word, literally meaning “approaching a turn”. If you are heading at full speed toward a turn, you either have to slow down and turn toward the road again to save life, or you are going to crash. Unless, of course, you prefer to rest upon an external magical aid, a Deus ex machina, to rescue you at the edge of the cliff. A Catastrophe can be realized as a bifurcation point in terms of complexity theory, a point of chaos and unpredictability, or a tipping point. Behind fueling wicked problems and deadlocks lies a Newtonian conception of reality, where the universe is realized as a mechanical automaton, a timeless space where an infinite knowledgeable entity can predict and leverage everything.