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A living collection from the Altringer Eagle Lab at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. Problems come from expert input and from what experts publish: research agendas, standards roadmaps, agency reports. The Problem Genome system drafts each write-up, and its sources are checked before it enters the collection. It can make mistakes. It exists to put problem definition at the center of innovation. Problem definitions here can be cited, and so can improvements to them. Teams can reach domain knowledge early and contribute what they learn.

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Genome › Binding constraint

Binding constraint · gene 5 of 11

the burden falls unevenly

43 problems carry this gene · constraint:equity

The harm falls on people with the least power to fix it, or the existing solutions were designed around a different population. Pulse oximeters calibrated mostly on lighter skin give unreliable readings for darker-skinned patients. In these problems, who benefits and who is left out belongs in the engineering specification from the first day.

Related genes

built on the wrong dataunrepresentative-datamodels or tools trained and tested on data that doesn't look like the situations where they're needed most worked but couldn't payunviable-economicsthe solution performed as intended, but nobody could afford to buy, run, or sustain it aimed at the wrong personwrong-stakeholderthe solution targeted a user or decision-maker who isn't the one who determines the outcome missing the foundationsinfrastructurethe solution depends on infrastructure, such as power, roads, networks, or cold chains, that the target setting doesn't have

How to recognize it

Ask who bears the harm and who the existing solutions were designed around. If those populations differ by wealth, geography, race, or power, equity is a binding constraint.

Our system re-reads samples blind to test genes like this one. Genes it disagrees on are drawn dashed.

43 problems in 9 fields. Filter them, then share the link.

field: water & energygrants built for big utilitiesbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinetwelve times too many patientstested in the wrong worldhigh field: society & learningon top of paskettitested in the wrong worldmedium field: health & medicinefive million health workers, mostly unpaidthe economics don't workhigh field: digital & spaceentitled, but unenrolledbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: digital & spacethe account she can't openbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: food & the living worldthe female farmer the app forgotbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: health & medicinemalnutrition measured by the wrong bodymeasured the wrong thinghigh field: health & medicinebuilt for the clinic, worn at homebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinedesigned by those who don't need itbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicineone illness undoes the ladderbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldgreen batteries, dry villagesbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energypower for shacks, designed for housesbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningevery test assumes one kind of brainbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: digital & spacedata governance built without askingbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: society & learningno id, no aidthe rules got in the waymedium field: health & medicinekill the larvae, spare the wormtested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicineone antivenom for a thousand snakestested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldthe invisible seed marketbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: the built worldchargers everywhere except where they're neededbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinea thousand studies, nine worth trustingbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinethe socket fit is still a guessit fell between the crackshigh field: health & medicineside effects only some people reportbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: health & medicinedonated, broken, unrepairablebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energycooling the world while burning ittested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spacemissing data that isn't randomtested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldcool parks in rich neighborhoodsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinethe oximeter lies about darker skinbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinenearly eighty thousand tests, no fda oversightbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinehospital machines at the kitchen tablethe rules got in the wayhigh field: society & learninglatrines that fifteen percent cannot usebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicineprotection invented, not deliveredthe economics don't workhigh field: society & learningtherapy designed for a clinic, needed in a campbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningdigitized aid that disabled refugees can't reachit fell between the crackshigh field: society & learningsixty-five thousand acres burned for dinnerbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicineantivenom waits at hospitals victims can't reachthe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicineoxygen machines that drown in humiditytested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe test said no, the doctor prescribed anywaybuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicineinvisible to the systembuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningconnected classrooms, disconnected schoolsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningfixing the student instead of the institutionbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinedesigned for the young, prescribed for the oldbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldharvested, then losttested in the wrong worldmedium