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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 › Domain

Domain · gene 6 of 20

software, data, and ai

136 problems carry this gene · domain:digital

Digital problems here are rarely a matter of building an app. They are structural. AI-enabled autonomous systems cannot be formally verified for safety. Farm data is locked in formats that will not work together. Sky surveys are about to generate ten million alerts a night with no system fast enough to classify them. One shape recurs: a computational method that works in practice and 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 the passing on of knowledge, including archives and records that cannot be opened.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 when the deliverable is software, data infrastructure, or an algorithm, including proofs and guarantees about them.

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

All 136 problems in digital, grouped by why they are stuck. 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 & spaceten times the data, 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 outdated softwaremedium 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 & spacespace computers fall shorthigh

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 & medicinefaxes to approve a scanmedium field: digital & spaceno proof the robot will behavehigh