Tame problems and wild problems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just enjoyed reading a new book by the economist Russ Roberts titled Wild Problems: a guide to the decisions that define us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tame problems have the characteristics shown above via a table. They have clear starting points, and can be analyzed rationally. Conversely, wild problems lack starting points. Examples of both types are shown in another table. Dr. Roberts explains further on pages 2 and 3:    

 

“Whether to have a child is what I call a wild problem – a fork in the road of life where knowing which path is the right one isn’t obvious, where the pleasure and pain from choosing one path over another are ultimately hidden from us, where the path we choose defines who we are and who we might become. Wild problems are the big decisions all of us have to deal with as we go through life.

 

A lot of wild problems can give us butterflies and make our hearts ache. Knowing which path is the best one can’t be answered until we arrive in that distant land known as the future, a land we know fully only when we arrive. That tends to unnerve us. Lacking nerve, we procrastinate.  

 

How should we proceed, then, especially if we want to make a rational decision? An obvious strategy is to import help from other challenges we’ve faces and know how to solve. To beat the traffic or develop a vaccine against the coronavirus, for example, we rely on data, algorithms that can be tested, and experiments that can be replicated. For certain problems – I call them tame problems – the relentless application of science, engineering, and rational thought leads to steady progress.

 

But the big decisions we face in life, the wild problems – whether to marry, whether to have children, what career path to follow, how much time to devote to friends and family, how to resolve daily ethical dilemmas – these big decisions can’t be made with data, science, or the usual rational approaches.”

 

There is a long (hour and 17 minute) YouTube video discussion of the book at his EconTalk podcast, titled Russ Roberts and Mike Munger on Wild Problems  8/8/22.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social problems include another type called wicked problems. There is an article by John C. Camillus at Harvard Business Review on May 2008 titled Strategy as a wicked problem. Headings for characteristics of wicked problems are shown via another table adapted from that article.

 

Images of a square knot and a knot pattern were adapted from Openclipart.