For the love of problems | Erwin Witteveen | TEDxArnhem
I love problems and I do love problems because there's some really cool thing with problems problems creates a lot of solutions problems creates more solutions than problems in fact every good problem already starts with two solutions and I'll show you if I have this Apple and have this box and I want to put the Apple in the box and it doesn't fit now I have a problem great because now I have immediately two solutions I can find a bigger box of course or I can find a small apple it's always like that with every problem and on top of these basic solutions we have the creative solutions for instance I might think something with a blender to make it fit hey that's how they invented the apple juice it started with a problem first we have problems and then we have the inventions we really need problems to make progress there's also a set thing about problems and that is that most people get very very nervous of problems they start panicking a little and they feel the stress in the body and they they run and outside to find a solution for the problem and as soon as the first solution pops up into the mind they feel relieved if you believe they are so happy now that they have a solution that something strange is happening in the mind they simply forget that I have just found a solution they start thinking that I have found the solution for instance if I if I decide that I needed big a box for my Apple and I go finding a bigger box then during this I passed a lot of small apples but I don't see these apples anymore because I'm so tumors focused on finding the box okay you might say this is a nice theory only for small problems till you realize that you see that same pattern exists for all the big problems the big problems of organizations of companies of countries even the big lag of problems well we have a problem like two months traffic jam and we think building more routes and as soon as we think that we tend to completely ignore the order logic solution which is building less cars okay we do have a big problem and a serious problem in this world it's called global warming and well if I observe the people I I noticed three types of people how they react to this kind of problem first we have the stressy people they say help help we will all die very soon and then we have the lazy egoistic selfish people and they are like well when does this happen Oh after 50 years out then I don't live anymore so I don't care and we have two non-believers they say it cannot be true it cannot be true it must be a mistake or maybe it's a lie from the government who to let us pay more taxes that could also be I don't know and me what type of will I be well I do believe we have a serious problem and I'm not lazy and not equus tech but I'm totally not stressed about this problem not at all because because I love problems I think also this problem will create a lot of solutions let's first take a look at the logic solutions because the problems is we have too much co2 and so it's very logic that you think let's produce less co2 of course but we should never forget that this is not the solution it's just a solution we could as well plant a whole lot of trees because the twist that eats the co2 so if I see 16 thousand people in suits and they go into a plane to another country and they negotiate that that country will produce less co2 then they go on the plane and they come back and then the land and the first thing they do is opening a coal power a cool color our plants oh my god I think it would be more useful if these guys just go to the local forest and the local parks and plant a lot of trees okay now they're more creative solutions look at this I live in the west of the Netherlands I live there in the blue part and there are living a million millions of people there my house is already below sea level now and some friends of mine they live six meters below sea level six meters do you think that they are getting serious frightens if someone tells them that the next century the sea level might rise one meter now then local decide okay we are now six meter below then we are seven meter below so there's not a big issue if we manage to build dikes to protect us against X six meters we can also well we can also build dikes for seven meters what's the problem well at this point this is the point where the creative solutions might start because building dikes is very very expensive and maybe there's another solution if there's too much water and we built a dike to protect the water why not carry the water away but where to put all that water well of course to places where they needed to Africa because Africa is a very poor continent they have enough Sun but it's too dry so I think we should bring our water problem to Africa because our water problem could be there what a solution and the strange thing is that we already know how to do this we managed to transport oil to pipelines 5,000 kilometres all the way from Siberia to Holland well if we can manage that then we can also manage to use these kind of pipelines to transport water 5,000 kilometres from Europe to Africa oh yes we can why don't we do it yet why not because you know I don't know why we do it but but but I know that if we do it then there's one global problem produces the solutions for an other global problem poverty in Africa and shortage of food production especially with the current world population there's only one one little problem that this water is salty and the vegetables they don't like salty water that can't grow on it but this problem is already solved we already invented machines that can turn salt water into fresh water these machines however they use a really a lot of energy but in Africa there are lots of energy there's plenty plenty solar energy so this problem can be solved and I love it because these problems have created a really a really a lot of solutions they are already there that already exists you can start picking solutions already tomorrow and I hope you will leave with that thank you you