A problem family — different problems, same issues

designed for a world
that doesn’t exist here

24 problems across 13 fields

These 24 problems have evolved beyond 'tech designed for rich contexts fails in poor contexts.' With labor/informal-sector additions — heat stress in agricultural workers, artisanal mining mercury exposure, substandard medicine field detection — the pattern now includes formal systems that can't account for informal economies. Distinguished from the “the solution exists but nobody can afford it” family by context: if you made the technology free, the “the solution exists but nobody can afford it” family problems would be solved but the “designed for a world that doesn’t exist here” family problems would not. The barrier is infrastructure, institutional support, and understanding the user's actual constraints.

Making the technology free wouldn't solve these problems. The real barriers are invisible: no electricity, no trained technicians, no supply chain, and designers who never visited the deployment context.

The 24 problems in this family

rots before it reaches the roadtested in the wrong worldhigh

sealed bags that stay on the shelfbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh

harvested, then losttested in the wrong worldmedium

also in the solution exists but nobody can afford it

every field varies, every sensor averagesthe economics don't workhigh

also in the solution exists but nobody can afford it

monitoring built for new buildings, not old onesit fell between the crackshigh

scaffolding collapses without warningit fell between the crackshigh

the building has no twintested in the wrong worldhigh

also in the model was never trained on this

deep water wind, deeper costsit fell between the crackshigh

too thin to catch, too potent to ignorebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh

predictable power, prohibitive pricethe economics don't workhigh

also in the solution exists but nobody can afford it

the vaccine froze and nobody noticedthe economics don't workmedium

also in the solution exists but nobody can afford it

invisible to the systembuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh

also in designed for the wrong person, the context you didn’t design for

sterilized and still infectioustested in the wrong worldhigh

oxygen machines that drown in humiditytested in the wrong worldhigh

also in the context you didn’t design for

adult pills for children's cancerthe economics don't workhigh

also in the solution exists but nobody can afford it

protection invented, not deliveredthe economics don't workhigh

also in the solution exists but nobody can afford it

one in ten pills is a liebuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium

also in it worked in the lab, the context you didn’t design for

the water plant runs on software from the ninetiesbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium

also in built to be open. now under attack

tunnels without lightbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium

heat kills farmworkers nobody monitorsbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium

also in the context you didn’t design for

nobody taught the boda riderthe economics don't workhigh

arsenic removed in the lab, not in the villagetested in the wrong worldhigh

also in the solution exists but nobody can afford it

too slow to catch the pathogen before outbreaktested in the wrong worldhigh

also in it worked in the lab

the price of a full pitthe economics don't workhigh

Confidence: high = Tier-1 source — a primary expert source, fully fact-checked · medium = Tier-2/3 source — analyst, conference, or community source, fact-checked · needs sourcing = flagged for deeper sourcing — help us source it · the dot's size is its tier; a dashed dot needs sourcing

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designed for a worldthat doesn’t exist here

The 24 problems in this family

designed for a worldthat doesn’t exist here

The 24 problems in this family

designed for a world
that doesn’t exist here

designed for a world
that doesn’t exist here