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A living collection from Natural Artificial Labs at Dartmouth. Problems come from expert sources — research agendas, standards bodies, agencies — and every source is fetched and checked before a problem enters; independent readers re-tag samples blind so the genes can be trusted.

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Domain · gene 6 of 20

136 problems carry software, data, and ai

domain:digital

Digital problems here are rarely 'build an app.' They are structural: AI-enabled autonomous systems that cannot be formally verified for safety, farm data locked in formats that will not interoperate, sky surveys about to generate ten million alerts a night with no system fast enough to classify them. A recurring shape is a computational method that works in practice but carries no guarantee anyone can certify.

Related genes

space and big physicsspaceAerospace, satellites, astronomy, and observatory-scale physics — where the data and the hardware both outrun us.making things at scalemanufacturingProduction, quality control, and supply chains — where a process that works once must work a million times.learning and knowledge accesseducationLearning, training, and knowledge transmission — including archives and records that hold knowledge hostage.moving people and goodstransportVehicles, mobility infrastructure, and the rules that govern them — on roads, in the air, and in orbit.

How to recognize it

A problem counts as digital here when the deliverable is software, data infrastructure, or an algorithm — including proofs and guarantees about them.

Independent readers re-tag samples of the collection blind so tags like this one can be trusted — plain-words reliability numbers live on data & method.

where digital is stuck — all 136 problems, grouped by why. Filter them, then share the link.

tested in the wrong world43

field: food & the living worldmodels that stop at the loading dockhigh field: society & learningon top of paskettimedium field: digital & spacedocking uninvited at twenty-eight thousand km/hmedium field: digital & spacelaser links that clouds can killmedium field: digital & spaceten thousand satellites, no traffic controlmedium field: food & the living worldships trust position data from strangersmedium field: making & materialsfeatures too small to measuremedium field: the built worldthe building runs on protocols with no passwordshigh field: health & medicineperfect on competition day, blind in the clinicmedium field: water & energyso many alarms, none get answeredmedium field: digital & spacethe satellite can't see the settlements that need itmedium field: digital & spacethe scoreboard is corruptedhigh field: digital & spacethe code rots before the paper is citedhigh field: food & the living worldthe ocean's bandwidth is almost zerohigh field: the built worldthe robot gets lost on the job sitemedium field: society & learningnobody agrees how many people are in the campmedium field: society & learningthe algorithm marks down how you talkhigh field: digital & spacewho made thishigh field: digital & spaceis it biology or just a different labmedium field: digital & spaceno ruler fits every machinehigh field: digital & spacehandoff at seventeen thousand miles per hourhigh field: digital & spaceevery tool call compounds the errormedium field: the built worldweeks to turn a scan into a modelmedium field: health & medicinethe tumor evolves faster than the planhigh field: health & medicineevery cancer, a different screeninghigh field: health & medicinesepsis outruns the doctorhigh field: health & medicinethe mouse said it was safehigh field: health & medicinethe robot waits for every commandhigh field: digital & spacemissing data that isn't randomhigh field: making & materialsevery qubit slightly differenthigh field: making & materialsmagic angles that can't be mass-producedhigh field: digital & spacethe bigger the mirror, the blurrier the viewhigh field: making & materialsthe lab robot can't read its own resultshigh field: digital & spaceforty percent of the power just keeps it coolhigh field: digital & spaceten million alerts before dawnhigh field: digital & spacechiplets run hot and nobody can model whyhigh field: health & medicineworks on the bench, fails in the fieldhigh field: digital & spacelearning by crashing is not an optionhigh field: digital & spacespectrum sharing that only works in theoryhigh field: food & the living worldimmutable records of unverified factshigh field: digital & spaceexplain the defense, expose the weaknesshigh field: making & materialsai needs more bandwidth than packages can deliverhigh field: the built worldknock out power, lose water, lose everythinghigh

measured the wrong thing5

field: water & energythe carbon before the server turns onhigh field: society & learningloans that lifted, then buriedhigh field: health & medicinediagnosed decades too latehigh field: digital & spaceoptimized for clicks, amplified to harmhigh field: digital & spacesafety-critical ai with no benchmarkmedium

the rules got in the way15

field: digital & spacenobody regulates the receiverhigh field: digital & spacerenting the nation's death filehigh field: society & learninginjured on the job, invisible to the systemhigh field: society & learningno id, no aidmedium field: health & medicinebrain data for sale, no ruleshigh field: digital & spacecertified the day it shipped, never againhigh field: water & energyefficiency feeds the machinehigh field: the built worldverifying the message takes longer than the braking windowhigh field: the built worldno rule says the car must watch the driverhigh field: health & medicinesoftware trapped in a hardware rulebookhigh field: health & medicinethe implant outlives the companyhigh field: health & medicinethe algorithm moved on, the approval didn'thigh field: the built worldtwenty-one years of spectrum, handed to wi-fihigh field: the built worlddrone rules that cite standards that don't existhigh field: health & medicinethe app was prescribed, the outcome unknownmedium

built without the people who'd live with it30

field: the built worldthe app that rides alonghigh field: the built worldnobody owns america's addresseshigh field: society & learningexperiments without facesmedium field: digital & spaceentitled, but unenrolledhigh field: digital & spacethe account she can't openmedium field: food & the living worldthe female farmer the app forgotmedium field: the built worldthe container disappears between ship and railmedium field: the built worldforty formats to move one boxmedium field: health & medicinea hundred formats, no translationhigh field: health & medicinefound the disease, lost the patienthigh field: water & energygrid systems that refuse to talkmedium field: digital & spacedata governance built without askingmedium field: digital & spacefive decades of government software, none compatiblemedium field: digital & spacedigital twins that can't be stitched togethermedium field: digital & spacethe lock is welded shutmedium field: food & the living worldthe tractor can't talk to the sensorhigh field: health & medicinethe count that never leaves the districthigh field: food & the living worldthe forecast speaks celsius, the farmer needs rain dateshigh field: health & medicinelocked into one brand's pancreashigh field: health & medicinecleared for market, never followed uphigh field: health & medicinethe ventilator has a password problemhigh field: health & medicineapproved without proofhigh field: digital & spacefifty times the collisions, same computing budgethigh field: health & medicinethe robot needs a therapist toohigh field: society & learningconnected classrooms, disconnected schoolshigh field: making & materialsfactory data in a thousand locked drawersmedium field: water & energythe water plant runs on software from the ninetiesmedium field: the built worldsmart defenses for dumb controllershigh field: health & medicinedesigned for the young, prescribed for the oldhigh field: food & the living worldtraced on five platforms, connected on nonehigh

the economics don't work7

field: society & learningskills nobody mappedhigh field: digital & spacesealed inboxesmedium field: water & energywhen the lights go out on the loanmedium field: digital & spaceno cash at the end of the linemedium field: society & learningconnected world, disconnected campsmedium field: health & medicineno alarm before the last breathhigh field: digital & spacetwo companies, twenty years behindhigh

it fell between the cracks36

field: water & energythe brake half the fleet ignoreshigh field: digital & spaceopen enough to be crushedmedium field: water & energythe chlorine pump accepts any commandhigh field: society & learningthe algorithm sets the pace, the body paysmedium field: digital & spacethe bill of materials is missing most partsmedium field: digital & spacefour disciplines, no common languagehigh field: the built worldsixty-two ships for six hundred cablesmedium field: society & learninga thousand ways to name the same skillmedium field: society & learningthe transcript stayed behindmedium field: digital & spacepassive surfaces can't hear what they reflecthigh field: health & medicinesequenced here, stored somewhere elsehigh field: health & medicinethe cardiologist is three counties awayhigh field: the built worldthe crash the car never trained forhigh field: digital & spacemillions of parts, no map of the wholemedium field: digital & spacebreak one model, break them allmedium field: digital & spacequantum computers that can't simulate chemistryhigh field: making & materialsfrom atoms to buildings, the math breakshigh field: digital & spaceconfident predictions, no error barshigh field: digital & spaceproof beyond the machine's reachhigh field: making & materialsatoms to engineering, the middle is missinghigh field: water & energypromised megawatts, delivered by weatherhigh field: the built worldsmart city pilots that can't talk to each otherhigh field: digital & spacethe spectrum nobody can build radios forhigh field: digital & spacesolar storms arrive before the forecasthigh field: digital & spacethe training data might be lyinghigh field: digital & spaceno proof for the neural network insidehigh field: digital & spacechoose privacy or accuracy, not bothhigh field: digital & spacesafe alone, dangerous togetherhigh field: digital & spacebrain cells in a dish, computing badlyhigh field: society & learningdigitized aid that disabled refugees can't reachhigh field: digital & spacea mirror with no reflectionmedium field: digital & spacebig ai, small datamedium field: digital & spacesafe when we tested it, untested sincemedium field: digital & spacetrusted in parts, trusted by no onemedium field: health & medicinethirty faxes to approve a scanmedium field: digital & spaceno proof the robot will behavehigh