These are large-scale problems affecting significant numbers of people in a negative way.
Note that these problems are not uniformly distributed around the world. Some primarily affect developed countries, while others mostly affect less-developed countries. Some may even be specific to an individual country, such as the United States.
Note that many of these problems are the indirect result of the invention of agriculture and civilization. But we can’t realistically go back to being hunter-gatherers (as millions of years of evolution evolved us to be), so these problems will eventually need to be solved. We have expelled ourselves from our primordial Eden and there is no going back. We have no choice now but to find sustainable ways to make civilization work better.
- Loneliness. Difficulty finding a compatible life partner.
- Boring, meaningless, unfulfilling work.
- Lack of fulfillment of one’s potential.
- Lack of a sense that one is making a significant contribution to the world.
- Depression.
- Scientific overspecialization. Lack of communication across scientific disciplines, hindering the pace of discovery.
- Physical, emotional, and verbal abuse of children
- Physical, emotional, and verbal abuse of women
- Physical, emotional, and verbal abuse of men
- Poorly educated electorates
- Extreme wealth inequality
- Extreme income inequality
- Crime: rape, murder, theft, etc.
- Obesity
- Global warming and climate change
- Unemployment
- Poverty, even when employed
- Homelessness
- Mental illness
- Environmental degradation and pollution
- Food insecurity and starvation
- Discrimination (on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, etc.)
- Excessive personal debt
- Excessive collective (national) debt
- Lack of critical thinking. Irrationality. Forming beliefs without evidence.
- Unchecked political power. Lack of democracy.
- Aging and Physical Deterioration.
- Sexual repression, dysfunction, and pathology
- Human trafficking for sex or forced labor
- Drug and alcohol abuse
- Industrial agriculture
- Cruelty and neglect of animals
- Animal euthanasia
- Unwanted pregnancies
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Suicide
- Bullying
- Illegal immigration
- Political Corruption
- Lack of education. Ignorance of science, history, and other branches of knowledge that seek to understand the world.
- Lack of access to affordable healthcare.
- Incurable diseases (e.g. various forms of cancer)
- Cardiovascular disease
- Lack of access to efficient, affordable public transportation
- Ugliness
- Traffic Congestion
Book Excerpts
The Age of Missing Information. By Bill McKibben.