Societal Challenges

Return to GC Chapters Societal Challenges List - See Institutions
Decisions must be made in context to the Societal Challenges and try to avoid unintended consequences. See Sustainable Development Goals

ENVIRONMENT
1. Climate Change

• SDG 13: Climate Action

2. Natural Resources

• Air - pollution, emissions, air quality
• Water - rivers, oceans, waste, microplastics etc. SDG Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation - SDG 14: Life Below Water
• Land - forests, grazing, wildlife, agriculture - SDG 15: Life on Land
• Fossil Fuels - oil, coal, natural gas
• Rare earth

3. Food Production

• Immigration
• Regenerative Agriculture
• GMOs, Organic, use of fertilizers, pesticides, weed killers, antibiotics,

4. Materials

• Packaging
• Waste Disposal
• Recycling
• Plastics
• Building Materials - Steel, cement, etc.

5. Manufacturing & Production

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Manufacturing - SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

6. Buildings

• Windows, thermostats, heat pumps, green roofs
• insulation, builing automation, LED lighting

7. Transportation

• Public Transportation - SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Autos
• Air Transport - airports, etc.
• Roads & Bridges
• Trucking & transportation of goods and services
• Logistics and deliveries
• Autonomous vehicles, drones, etc.

8. Energy

• Renewables - SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy - Wind, Geothermal, Solar, Hydro
• Oil, Gas and Coal
• Production and Distribution - SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

JUSTICE, SAFETY & SECURITY
9. Systemic Racism

• Also called institutional or structural
• Reparations - slavery, Jim Crowe, Mass Incarceration

10. Criminal Justice

• Jail Involved (20 million people)
• more people with criminal record than college degress - Tight Rope
• Convicted Felons getting work
• Recidivism
• Drug Possession
• Addiction

11. Equality

• Freedoms & Liberties SDG 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions* Racial Discrimination
• Gender equality - SDG 5: Gender Equality
• Sexual Orientation

12. Safety Net --> Enablement Net

• Food Stamps
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Worker's Compensation
• Unemployment
• Social Security disability benefits (SSDI)
• Medicaid & CHIP
• School Lunches
• Housing & Utilities support

13. Public Safety

• Policing
• Law enforcement
• Fire
• Emergency Medical Services

14. Guns

15. Crisis Response

• Economic Crisis
• Global Pandemic
• Natural Disasters

16. Consumer Protections

• Products,
• Transportation
• Banking
• Home Loans
• Credit Cards
• Food production

17. Homeland Security

• Homeland Security - SDG 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
• Cybersecurity
• Domestic Terrorism
• National Security - Military Threats

18. Retirement Security

• Retirement Income
• Social Security System

DIGITAL

19. Digitalization

• Data privacy
• Digital monopolies
• Surveillance Capitalism & Surveillance Authoritarianism - shift from these use cases to societal challenges
• Online security
• Hacking
• Algorithmic bias

20. Data Resources - Data Infrastructure

• The new oil - most important resource to address societal challenges
• Accurate & Timely Data Feeds
• Data Rights - who owns it?
• Data Privacy vs Insight
• Research & Discovery & Insight
• Data Science Infrastrure
• Passive Data Collection (i.e., what we have today) vs. Active Data Collections to improve ML Models
• Data Creation - i.e., need to collect the 80% - social determination of health
• Need labeled data - we need to shift to AI first data strategy - what data do we need, then get it created
• Data Standardization - i.e., social determinants of health - collect data for

21. AI & Human Collaboration

• Use of One Billion ML Models
• Digital Twins and Digital Phenotypes
• Use of Algorithms, ML Models in decison making - loans, prison sentences, job applicants
• Transparency & Explainability
• Ethics
• Biases
• Citizen Developers

22. Automation

• Autonomy - Autonomous Vehicles
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA), IPA
• Robots

23. Digital Media

• Disinformation and sowing discord
• Social Media - how do we keep people safe and free? Section 230
• Streaming Media - news, music, games, movies
• ML Algorithms that drive attention, engagement, find things, sell things
• Hacking Algorithms - Facebook Feeds, Viral tweets, Google Search/SEO, Tic-Toc, You Tube
• Digital Fakes - Made Up News, Videos, Photos
• News - traditional, lack of local news
• Fact bubbles - Public company reporting, Facts and narratives (including predictions/forward guidance)
• Narrative bubles - news fits into a narrative

24. Digital Divide

• Access & Competencies
• Telehealth - lack technology and skills
• Education - lack of computer, broadband
• Ordering Food, Medicines & Consumer goods
• Cell service
• Broadband
• Satellite
• Cable
• Quality smart phone, digital subscriptions (NY Times, WaPo)

HEALTH
25. Public Health

• Global pandemic - including protecting front-line workers health and finance (i.e., paid sick leave)
• Research, vaccinations, education (alcohol, tobacco)
• Worker safety standards, school nutrition
• Track Disease outbreaks, pandemics
• Promote guidelines and legislation (Smoking bans, air quality, seat belts) based on science.
• Supply of water and sanitation, housing, protection from natural disasters, occupational safety, education, air quality, road safety, agriculture policies, food safety, racial justice, vaccination, infecteous disease control, licensing of medicines and devices, tobacco control

26. Substance Use

• Drug possession crimes vs drug treatments
• Addictions - Opioids
• Alchohol, Prescription medications

27. Mental Health

• Depression, Anxiety, Stress
• Suicide - Deaths of Despair (Suicide, Drug Overdose, Alcohol-related)
• Parity - Mental Health vs. Physical Health
• Adverse Childhood Events (ACE)

28. Health

• Individual health - SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• Life Expectancy
• Manage chronic conditions - obesity,

29. Healthcare System

• Affordability - Cost
• Access to primary, specialist and hospital care and affordabile medicines, adequate number of trained healthcare professionals.
• Healthcare Insurance
• Coordinated
• Mental Health parity & treatments

30. Health Intervention Outcomes

• Preventitive medicine
• Treatment of disease throughout life course, pallitive and end-of-life care
• 'Health Outcomes'
• Non-medical interventions - social determinants of health

31. Food

• Food insecurity - SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• Food deserts
• Nutrition

COMMUNITIES

32. Social Capital

• Social Capital (Alienated America)
  
• Churches
• Social Organizations

33. Community Resources

• Safety
• Parks
• Schools-
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Food
• Utilities - water, sewage treatment, electricity, phone, internet
• District Heating
• Essential Services - Food, Consumables, Hospitals, Doctors, Mental Health

RESEARCH & INNOVATION

34. Research

• Basic Science and Innovation - SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Climate Change
• Health - Cancer treatment discoveries
• Non-Randomized Real World Evidence (RWE) vs. Randonimzed Control Trials (RCT)

35. Disruptive Technologies

• Deployment
• Unintended Consequences
• Human disruption

INSTITUTIONS

36. Taxes

37. Political Polarization

• Us and Them
• Functional Legislature - lack of collaboration
• Populism & Cancel Culture
• Political Cartel
• Fact & Narrative Bubbles - mask wearing, fair elections, climate change
• Gerrymandering - create threats from extreme left or right of party
• Political Cartel - keeps moderates out, prevents collaboration from happening

38. Democratic Society

• Elections - fair
• Open Elections
• Representitive Government
• Mission and Goals - reflect the people

39. Institutional Trust

• Public trust

40. Institutional Effectiveness

• Efficient
• Effective

GLOBAL

41. Immigration

• Citizenship
• Worker Visas
• DACA

42. Globalization

• Governments Stability vs Values (i.e., Middle East, China, others)
• Global Conflicts
• Election Tampering
• Domestic Supply Chain
• Cyberseurity

ECONOMIC CAPITALISM

43. Economic Growth

• GDP and Jobs, etc. - SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• US GDP by industry
• Competitiveness - monopolies
• Efficient
• Effectiveness

44. Economic Sustainability

• Depletion of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels, metals, and minerals
• Enough food, water and energy – that can support a human population
• Aging Population - Enough young to care for the old
• Workforce - farms, etc.
• Pandemic Disruptions

45. Entrepreneurship

• Small Business
• Business Start-ups
• Venture Capital

46. Competition

INCOME & WORK
47. Jobs

• Future of Work
• Middle Income Jobs – Good Paying Jobs - SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Working Class Jobs - High School or Less, Some College

48. Employment Protections

• Paid leave - Family, Sick with Covid-19 and need to come to work, can't go to doctor or take family member to doctor
• Gig Work - Employee vs. Contractor - need new classifications
• Workplace environment
• Workforce protections - discrimination, harassment, etc.

49. Workforce Disruptions

• Job Loss
• Career advancement
• Job Disruptions (Change, AI, Automation, Robots) - global pandemic
  • Retrain, redistribute, Universal Basis Income, reduce hours

50. Workforce Training

• Apprenticeship
• Job training
• Trade schools
• Retraining and reskiling
• Certificates - Nearly 30 Percent of Workers in the U.S. Need a License to Perform Their Job

51. Labor Force Participation

• Labor Participation

52. Child Care

• Affordable

53. Primary Education

• Cradle to full-time employment -SDG 4: Quality Education

54. College Education

• Student Loans
• Financial Aid

HUMAN FLOURISHING

55. Senior Living

• Nursing homes vs home care
• Affordable Adult Care & Automation
• Medications

56. Homelessness

57. Housing

• Affordable
• Home Loans

58. Poverty

• SDG 1: No Poverty

59. Income and Wealth Inequality

• Individual - SDG 10: Reduced Inequality
• Entrepreneurship - start a business, seed a startup
• Home Purchase

60. Meritocracy & Equity

• Brett Cavanaugh vs Sonia Sotmayor
• Fairness & Equity
• Equity vs. Equality

61. Social Mobility "American Dream" Enablement Opportunity (Individual)

• #1 Upward/downward mobility - American Dream
• #2 Intergenerational mobility
• #3 Structural Mobility - attributable to changes in society as a whole - everyone can't be above average
• SDG 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal
• Income mobility
• Raj Chetty - 2014 study on income mobility

62. Deaths of Despair

63. Individual Well-Being

• Loneliness
• Purpose & Meaning

64. Social Networks

• Friends & Family
• Social/Support Network
• People to help - find jobs, resources, etc.
• People to enjoy spending time