South Korean workers average 2,739 hours per year, with 55.9 hours per week, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government shuts down computers at 7pm on Fridays to encourage employees to take a break. A law has reduced the maximum weekly working hours from 68 to 52. Japan also has an overwork problem. Working long hours is […]
Political problem framing involves presenting an issue in a way that gains approval. In contrast, mediation identifies key issues to be resolved. Language is used to gain conformity and public knowledge. Problem framing involves work, including focus groups and polls. Political parties and interest groups use this technique to reinforce ideas. The Iraq war was […]
The reader-writer problem arises when multiple readers and writers need access to the same resource. Programmers can restrict access to control which processing threads see the resource and when. One solution involves using semaphores to mark state and control access. Programmers have to decide whether readers or writers have priority and how to manage access. […]
The traveling salesman problem involves efficient resource usage and minimizing energy expenditure. It is a classic example of the tour problem, where stops along a route are made without revisiting previous ones. Combinatorial and discrete optimization are related to this problem and useful in mathematics and computer science. The goal is to achieve maximum benefit […]
The Defining Problems Test measures a person’s morality and has been updated to have five questions. It monitors moral development over time and has three levels of morality based on psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s six stages. The Defining Problems Test, often abbreviated as the DIT, is a test given to measure a person’s morality. Originally created […]
Undecidable problems cannot be solved with algorithms, and are of interest in mathematics and computer programming. Researchers use tactics to disprove undecidability, but it can have real-world implications such as causing system vulnerabilities and data loss. An undecidable problem is a question that cannot be solved with the use of an algorithm. This is a […]
The dining philosophers problem is a computer science thought experiment using a circular table with five philosophers and utensils. It illustrates synchronization problems and the difficulty of preventing deadlock. Solutions involve creating algorithms to regulate when philosophers eat, think, or use utensils. The problem was first expressed by Edsger Dijkstra in 1965 and has undergone […]
The US federal system divides power between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to create balanced government through checks and balances. The political question doctrine limits the power of the judicial branch by giving it jurisdiction only over non-political matters, but confusion arises over what qualifies as a political issue. The Supreme Court has declined […]
Global warming is caused by gases accumulating in the atmosphere, primarily carbon dioxide from human activities. This causes the Earth’s temperature to rise, leading to various impacts such as the spread of diseases, more severe hurricanes and droughts, economic hardship, and melting of the polar ice caps. The best solution is to reduce carbon emissions […]
“Plato’s problem” is a term coined by Noam Chomsky to describe how humans acquire knowledge and how it relates to experience. It is often used in linguistics, but also relevant to other fields. The heart of the problem is defining knowledge and experience and how they interact. Plato’s Meno dialogue addresses these questions. Recommended texts […]
In the mid-1800s, Charles Dickens was unhappy when a publisher sold obvious hoaxes of his work, but a judge ruled that readers could tell the difference. The publisher went on to build a successful empire, while Dickens’ work remains widely read. Dickens was also known for his heroism, interest in the supernatural, and possibly having […]
The problem of evil is a philosophical and theological debate about the nature of God and why evil exists. It is difficult to reconcile an omnipotent God with the existence of evil. Some suggest it is linked to free will, while others see it as punishment or divine retribution. The problem of evil can lead […]
Problem games are not flawed games, but rather plays that confront viewers with modern social issues. The concept arose in the 19th century as part of the realism movement. Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw are considered masters of problem drama. These plays cover a range of topics and can be tragic or comedic. They […]
