If life itself is a wicked problem…
Posted on October 25, 2013 | posted by:By Lillian Shi Tong, for TransD Seminar 1
According to Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber, science is bond to fail when confronting wicked problems, because of the nature of these problems. Design, on the other hand, should play an important role in dealing with those wicked problems. “Wicked problem” is not only a new notion to definite a kind of problems, but also evoke system thinking. Besides, wicked problems have different scales. Given that on a large scale, we are able to see the big picture, we may easily overlook issues in small scale and how small change in those scales can also make a big difference. For the society, perhaps the smallest scale is the life everyone has concerning what people do every day, what their choices based on, how they think about their lives and so on.
If life itself is a wicked problem, can design help people live a better life? Or even better, maybe everyone can be a designer trying to solve the wicked problem of living themselves? In that case, to see our lives as a wicked problem may be the first step to live a fulfilled life.
1. There is no definitive formulation of a good life.
What does “good” mean? Does it mean wealth? What makes a life good? Does “a good life” equal to happiness? Is happiness enough? If not what else should be added into “a good life”? When should be the evaluation of “good” when it comes to a life?… Do we really know? How can we find out?
2. “How to life” as a question has no stopping rule
There is no such thing as “the best life” one can have. We can always have a better life, which means it is a life-long problem. Only when one is dying, should one say: “This is the best I can do within my short life.”
3. The way we lives is not true-or-false, but good-or-bad
As it comes to a life, there are no true or false answers. There are so many possibilities to live a life and more than one of them can make one’s life good.
4. There is no immediate and no ultimate test of an answer to the question of “how to life a good life”
It is hard to determine what we do leads to a good life. Sometimes, what we regard as unfortunate turns out to be good for living, vice versa. Besides, consequences of good solution may also lead to unexpected influence in the future life.
5. Life, as well as consequences of life, cannot be “undone” or “redone”.
Life is always moving forward on the dimension of time. What is done is done and one cannot get back the time lost.
6. The ways of living does not have an enumerable set of possibility.
In the pursuit of a good life, a host of lifestyle arises and another host is never thought up. Then should one try to enlarge the available set or not? Will that one be better? Or is the action of enlarging another available set a waste of time?
7. Every day is essentially unique.
What a good life for a teenager is not likely a good life for an adult. Obviously, the answers to “how to live a good life” change as we grow. After all, we ourselves are changing.
8. The reason why one’s life is not good can always be a symptom of another reason.
For example, the reason why I had a bad day is that I get completely wet when it suddenly rained, which is because I did not bring an umbrella with me, which further is because I was in a hurry, which is because I stayed up late last night, which is because I did not manage my time well, which is because I planned too many things for myself to do, which is because of my inner anxiety… One can always find a reason on a higher level. In order to solve the problem, we’d better focus on reasons on higher levels so as to find the leverage point.
9. The existence of a discrepancy representing the life problem can be explained in numerous ways. The chosen explanation of why our lives are not good determines how we live a life.
If we explain unhappiness by “not enough money,” then one will probably try to earn more money. However, is that explanation good enough? One may feel unhappier with more money.
10. One should not be blamed for a bad living.
As long as one tries to a good life, one should not be blamed. Meanwhile, one should not regret about past time in life.
Through the lens of the notion of wicked problem, I find myself asking deeper questions about my values and thinking in a system way, which reveals my life’s pattern and rhythm. Since it is a common question everyone confronts with, everyone is a designer in different scales. Designers, on the other hand, designing a future in larger scales, should also see wicked problems in small scales from which we can learn real needs and conflicts.
