World's Biggest Problems

The world is plagued by a myriad of major issues that are equally important and demand correction at the soonest possible moment. I have taken the liberty of listing ten of these critical areas and suggest some realistic solutions to these problems.

1. Police brutality
In the last few years, police have been implicated in a number of violent incidents on camera. Many of these incidents have resulted in wide-spread mistrust of police forces across the nation as well as riots in cities like Baltimore. This issue has polarized people causing political disagreement between significant portions of the population.

A solution to this problem is by offering afflicted communities, an alternative in the form of private police. This solution is already being implemented in several areas of the country already to great effect as people have more power over an enterprise that is beholden to them as opposed to the public police. Public police may have their own agendas and biases that may go unchecked despite multiple warning signs because of a lack of transparency in some departments. Private officers can be fired with ease as can the enterprise providing the service thus, encouraging a deeper relationship with the community.

2. Famine
Since the beginning of time, starvation has been one of the greatest threats humanity faces on a daily basis as it is synonymous with fatigue, sickness and eventually death. Many in the developing world still face this specter on a daily basis. The Green Revolution brought food to billions, yet, here we are with millions still being undernourished.

Hence, I propose a solution to this problem: grow more food, and bring the rule of law into developing nations. This two pronged approach will work by, instead, of giving millions in food aid that money will go towards developing local farmers. Stable governments are usually the best equipped for handling drought-like situations which will minimize crop loss during crisis times. Rule of law also allows farmers to have larger yields by ensuring their physical and financial safety. More food will mean cheaper prices so that more of the population can eat.

3. Oil Cartel
OPEC is literally by its very definition a cartel of oil producing states that holds sway over the vast majority of the world's oil reserves. Many of these states are horrible dictatorships that employ their vast wealth towards subjugating their populations while using their position as oil producers to get away with their crimes. In addition, they also spike the price of oil and have used oil as a weapon to attack countries that disagree with their agendas.

Solution: The only way to disband a cartel of states is by taking away the very source of their power, oil. Alternative energy sources should be investigated such as nuclear power to provide electricity as well as to shift from using cars running on fuel to using exclusively electricity. Private enterprise is the only way these matters can effectively be accomplished to finally rid the world of OPEC.

4. Drinking Water
Like famine, lack of drinking water is a pressing issue for many throughout the world. Overall, this has become a much larger problem in recent history with pollution taking a high toll on existing fresh water reserves. This problem affects every nation on Earth to some degree as shown with the Flint Water Crisis.

Solution:
The only way to secure more water for an ever-growing human race is through filtration of salt water, that is in no short supply. The main issue with this process is that it is expensive; hence forcing a more of a commercial enterprise to extract water from brine. As time goes on, the process will become cheaper and more efficient solving the world's water crisis.

5. War
Inter-state warfare is a thing of the past, yet, intra-state or internal conflicts still persist as powers within nations strive to the control the state. Many of these conflicts are in the Middle East such as the Syrian Civil War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. Much of this is fueled by religious hatred among various groups as well as the lack of an effective mediators for peace.

Solution: United Nations should not get involved at all in the Middle East as it is merely the plaything of powerful nations to pit against each other. Instead, a private third-party should originate from a neutral country to help bring peace. Most peace talks are conducted by biased nation-states supporting one of the sides in a conflict.

The War by Tadeusz Cyprian (1949)

6. Corruption
Governments are prone to corrupt whatever they touch in some form or another in the Third World as shown in Latin America, presidents have and still are stealing billions of dollars from their countries. Likewise, a lot of major projects in the United States and other developed nations suffer from kickbacks and favoritism according to the terms of contracts and the like.

Solution: Transparency in contract formation as well as third-party controls on monetary resources will go a long way to stem the tide of corruption. Another thing is the prevention of having former lawmakers lobby on behalf of large corporations as they use what influence they gained in office to get deals for their new employers.

7. Communicable Diseases
Another parasite from before civilization are communicable diseases. It creates massive amounts of chaos whenever it is not reined under control and has led to the deaths of billions. Many of these aliments have been curbed in recent decades like smallpox, polio and typhoid. Yet, new ones keep being discovered and posing a new threat to humanity.

Solution: Vaccines can eradicate diseases when the entire world agrees on a singular course of action. Unfortunately, some ailments don't have vaccines while others that are easily treatable are ignored. A way to counter this is to produce generic medications for the poor to use against these diseases. Cheap medical treatment via remote conferencing with doctors could help eliminate this problem once and for all.

8. High-Seas Piracy
Somalia is infamous the world over for the high amounts of pirates operating off its shores. These pirates are violent criminals, who only wish to extract money through ransom, outright theft and murder. They are a plague upon the seas as such that shipping routes are diverted and billions are lost each year because of them.

Solution: Navies from around the world patrol the area, yet, cannot protect every ship that passes through. The only effective measure for ships is the use of armed guards to dissuade any would-be pirate. A secondary measure would be to improve economic prospects in pirate-ridden zones to permanently end the practice once and for all.

9. Drugs
Chemical reactions have been used for thousands of years to solicit a chemical "high" in their users. Such recreational drugs are illegal in most parts of today's world, however, are frequently used because of the effects they have. Outlawing these substances has resulted in a loss of quality and growth of the modern prison system. Many deaths can be traced to the use of these chemicals.

Solution: An alternative to this would be the use of non-chemical highs to achieve the same effect. This line of research has already produced such products as the thync headband and will eventually lead to more effective ways to get high through direct electrical brain stimulation. End result will be a non-dangerous high conducted within the confines of the law.

10. Barriers to Trade
Economic growth within countries themselves can be tapped out as the lack of trade opportunities will cause a nation to falter. Most nations have tariffs in place to avoid being overwhelmed by a country's superior goods or inexpensiveness to protect their own industries. This protectionism usually leads to inferior goods and less jobs as foreign business need offices within a country to operate their effectively.

Solution: A lifting of all tariffs would help bring much of the struggling nations of the world out of their economic slump. There would be chaos for awhile yet, the system would stabilize and result in a economic growth unrivaled by any time of history. With free trade, developed nations will get cheaper goods while developing nations will lift themselves out of poverty.