Abstract

In this paper I address what the late Domenico Parisi has termed ‘Difficult Problems’, i.e. problems that all humans have today (or will have in the near future) and that are difficult to recognize, to understand, and to solve. Following Domenico, I propose that for addressing these problems we should use the instruments of science, which includes being guided by objective data, propose explicit hypotheses to be tested, and, above all, distinguishing realty as it is from what we would like it to be. I make several brief examples of Difficult Problems, including some due to the mismatch between genes and culture or the so called tragedy of the commons and others related to society, culture, and politics. I also use the problem of the conflicts of interests in medicine for exemplifying the fact-based approach that I advocate. I conclude by relaunching Domenico Parisi’s proposal to create a Center for the Problems of the Present, an a-disciplinary research center which should address Difficult Problems