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.

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

• Affordability - Cost
• Access
• Healthcare Insurance
• Coordinated
• Health Outcomes
• Mental Health parity & treatments

30. Food

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

COMMUNITIES

31. Social Capital

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

32. 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

33. 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)

34. Disruptive Technologies

• Deployment
• Unintended Consequences
• Human disruption

INSTITUTIONS

35. Taxes

36. 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

37. Democratic Society

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

38. Institutional Trust & Effectiveness

• Public trust
• Efficient
• Effective

GLOBAL

39. Immigration

• Citizenship
• Worker Visas
• DACA

40. Globalization

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

ECONOMIC CAPITALISM

41. Economic Growth

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

42. 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

43. Entrepreneurship

• Small Business
• Business Start-ups
• Venture Capital

44. Competition

INCOME & WORK
45. 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

46. 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.

47. Workforce Disruptions

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

48. 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

49. Labor Force Participation

• Labor Participation

50. Child Care

• Affordable

51. Primary Education

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

52. College Education

• Student Loans
• Financial Aid

HUMAN FLOURISHING

53. Senior Living

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

54. Homelessness

55. Housing

• Affordable
• Home Loans

56. Poverty

• SDG 1: No Poverty

57. Income and Wealth Inequality

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

58. Meritocracy & Equity

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

59. 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

60. Deaths of Despair

61. Individual Well-Being

• Loneliness
• Purpose & Meaning

62. Social Networks

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