Population poses problems technology can’t fix

Many of the problems that face the world currently have been solved through technology. Food can be grown, raised, processed, packaged, and shipped in efficient ways. Medicine has extended life and cured most diseases that once killed the masses. We can communicate with people anywhere in the world, travel to nearly any place in the world, and we have the ability to protect the people from most forms of natural challenges.

The only problem we can’t really address is the sheer bulk. There’s simply too many people with too many needs to handle all of the problems. The technology is there. We just can’t get it out to everyone.

As the world population tops 7 billion, famine is still a threat to countless people in dozens of countries. Medicine can be mass-produced and transported but has a hard time reaching everyone. While many in developed countries live comfortably through 120 degree heat and sub-zero cold thanks to housing technology, there are still billions who suffer without heat or cooling mechanisms.

Logistics and mass production are the last two pieces to the puzzle for many of the things that continue to kill people in some places while being a minor inconvenience in others. Politics plays the biggest role. We could feed the starving in many countries but their governments squander the aid to keep their people in line or perform senseless actions that make other governments discontinue sending it.. Malaria could be treated and reduced to an occasional problem but because of costs and an unwillingness to do what it takes to make the treatments and prevention techniques available, 655,000 died from it in 2010.

The list of politically- and economically-motivated hindrances to allow technology to solve the problems of those who need it is endless.

This visualization exemplifies the challenge. It’s nearly impossible to solve the problems of a world with 7 billion people, but hope and action may someday prevail.

From: Toyota Boston Via: Visual.ly