Week 4 Reading Reflection

1.) The biggest surprise for me from the reading about the either/or-thinking of the muddling mind-sets section. I thought looking for certainty in our lives would be considered a good thing.

2.) The part that confused me the most from the reading was one of the muddling mind-sets, probability thinking. I really understand what it meant with the examples given.

3.) There are two questions I would like to ask the author for this chapter. One is does he think there is a certain characteristic in the creative climate that is more important than others. There are many different traits listed but is there one that is more preferred. Another question is are there any drawbacks to any of the principles of innovation. Are there any consequences to being action oriented or starting small.

4.) The one thing I think the author was wrong about was with the either/or-thinking being a muddling mind-set. After the reading I do understand the author's point that a reasonable amount of uncertainty can be good in someones work or life, but I think a mindset of striving for certainty can lead to creativity as well. If someone knows the goal they need to achieve, they can figure out different steps they can take to achieve it. Also having certainty can lead to someone feeling more freely to think creatively.

Top 5 World Problems

Top 5 problems (Descending order)

1.) There is too much wasted food. People are very quick to dispose of something when they see the expiration date is passed, even though for most products its still perfectly edible. Many times the expiration date is put on by companies to make people by more of their product instead of being accurate. Any vegetables or fruits not bought in stores in thrown away.

2.) The amount of waste the world produces is too large and effecting our environment. There are islands of trash floating around in the sea contaminating the water and large acres of land with nothing but garbage giving off harmful fumes.

3.) Air pollution makes living in densely populated areas. Air in certain cities in China is so polluted from car exhaust fumes that it is impossible to see and people are getting sick everyday.

4.) Many countries around the world are either dealing with under population or over population. Japan, for instance, is experiencing a rapid decline in their population.

5.) People around the world continue to text or use their phones while driving. Even though there have been countless number of campaigns advising people to not do and people know how dangerous it is, they still do it.

The reason I decided food waste is the world's most serious problem is because i's something that most people unintentionally contribute to. This is something that could be easily preventable if the information about false expiration dates was more commonly know. The next two problems I ranked for the a similar reason except many people do know how it effects the world. I choose under and over population at #4 because it is a global issue. I ranked texting and driving as #5 there are a lot of things being done to stop it. 

Top 5 Solutions (Descending order)

1.)  (For problem #4) Advance the hands free technology in cars so people are more inclined to use that instead of looking at their phones. Certain cars allow you to send and read texts and control your music without looking on your phone. If all cars had that and had better voice recognition to make using it easier, more people would stop looking at their phones while driving.

2.) (For problem # 2) Require or promote companies to re-use waste in their products. Coca Cola has a program where they make handbags and other accessories out of recycled waste. If more companies that could replace their materials they use to make their products use recycled waste instead, the amount of trash laying around in the world would decrease.

3.) (For problem #3) Heavily push the development of electric cars to make them accessible and a viable option for people. If more people in dense urban areas have electric cars, the cleaner the air will be.

4.) (For problem #1) Enact a law that requires companies to show a true expiration date on foods. Allow vegetables and fruits not bought to be donated.

5.) (For problem #5) Have countries who face over population problems promote immigration to the countries with under population to help balance their demographics.

The reason I choose improving the hands free technology in cars to help prevent people from using their phones while driving to be the most implementable is because it's an improvement of what we already have. Many cars have some kinds of hands free technology as a standard feature. My solution was a call for wider implementation and improvements to the tech so more people will be able to use it and will want to use it. My reason for #2 was that there are already many companies who do this, this again was just a call to action for more companies to do it. The reason for #3 being in the middle of what could be easily implementable is because while there are many companies rolling out there own electric cars, there are many companies who aren't looking into it or not making their own electric vehicles easily accessible. My reasons ranking #4 and #5 were that they would take a lot of government involvement to implement.