The Problem-Solvers of Tomorrow
How these 4 traits are necessary in a Modern Golden Age
Even though I haven’t written much about it, the concept of a Modern Golden Age continues to be one of my guiding stars.
I am aware of how ambitious that is, particularly due to the obstacles and problems that need to be solved to bring that vision alive.
This is why, recently, I’ve been thinking about what kind of people could solve problems whose complexity is several orders of magnitude greater than usual.
I’m constantly telling my students at The Socratic Experience that problems are almost always more complex than we think. I’ve written about it here:
Unless we’re talking about “pure problems”, existing in a vacuum, without any kind of real-life application or connection (like those math problems in 5th-grade tests), there are a series of ramifications that we need to take into consideration.
All complex problems are interconnected with other issues (some obvious, some not) making them similar to Hydras, generating more problems when you tackle the ones in front of you.
So, what type of individuals and teams can solve such issues?
There are 4 main things that I believe the problem-solvers of the future will have in high quantities. The first two are resilience and creativity.
As a rule, solving complex problems is a trial-and-error frenzy. If, after your first 5 solutions you become discouraged, then the problem will wear you out. The antidote for this is resilience, allowing you to increase tenacity on each attempt.
However, doing the same thing, over and over again, might not be the solution. This is where creativity comes along.
You get to experiment with different approaches, in an ever-changing attempt to figure out the solution, while keeping high stamina. Not only that but you can increase your leverage-per-action ratio, isolating the most important actions, sometimes even reducing the amount of effort.
You work on the right thing, with high tenacity.
Besides resilience and creativity, I would add obsession and flexibility.
For some reason, “the gods of the algorithm” have decided to fill my timelines with content that relates to obsession, following a trend called “obsessioncore”. I don’t mind it, in fact, I believe that if you take the time to tweak your social media feeds, you’ll often be surprised by the kind of content that emerges.
Simon Sarris, which I truly enjoy as a writer, noted on Twitter that “the entire world was built by obsessives”.
I’m not sure if this is true for “the entire world”, but I would say that the majority of big ideas that transformed it were the natural outcome of monomaniacal people focused on a certain craft or idea.
Talent may be shown by how easily something comes to you, but obsession is what keeps you returning to it, never running out of fuel. It shifts the source of reward—from external validation to an internal drive—so that the act of working on the idea itself becomes its own fulfillment, independent of any outside outcome.
It may seem like a far-fetched analogy (heavily influenced by my own class on Emerging Technologies, I’ll admit it) but it reminds me of Scramjets, a model for a jet engine that uses the air around it instead of propellant to generate momentum. With obsession, you can let go of fuel, since your own speed “feeds you”. You create an “infinite loop of momentum” that can be used to tackle any issue you may face.
The only problem is that you can get stuck in that loop, doing the same thing for far too long, instead of switching approaches. This is where flexibility enters the equation.
We must be able to change the course of action without losing sight of the end goal (hence, the obsession). We want to experiment with infinite combinations and paths until we get the result we aimed at.
Multiple examples come to mind, ranging from ancient times to the modern era, of people who used the 4 traits to create something revolutionary. One of the recent examples that I’ve read about (a great inspiration for this newsletter) was Newton.
In his book “Infinite Powers”, Steven Strogatz describes him as a “mash-up artist” since to solve problems in Geometry he tried the Infinity Principle by Ancient Greeks, Indian Decimals, Islamic Algebra, and French Analytical Geometry. He worked on it for a long time, trying different approaches and never giving up until we got it.
Throughout human history, in Humanities and STEM, Politics and Business, we have various examples of people embodying resilience, creativity, obsession, and flexibility to produce something transformative and beautiful. For us to get to a Modern Golden Age we’re going to need more of these beautiful ideas and projects.
In his book “True Style”, Bruce Boyer dedicates a chapter to “craftsmanship”. He argues that, as a society, we’ve forgotten how to bring excellence and care into something we’re making. We’re dismissive of details and we’re happy with just “good enough”.
Take a look around. It’s easy to see a culture that perpetuates the idea that “care is overrated.”
It’s important to distinguish between “not caring” and “shipping a Minimum Viable Product.” If overthinking is holding you back, push through and publish what you have—even if it’s imperfect. The key question is: did you put in your best effort? If so, then it’s enough. A flawed newsletter is still better than one stuck in drafts forever. That said, shipping quickly doesn’t mean neglecting quality—you should still bring as much care as possible to the process.
The problem is that most of our culture prefers to “swim in shallow waters”, and has little to no interest in exploring what’s deeper, even if it holds what they seek to find.
I have many conversations with creative students and friends about exploring the “deeper world” in order to transcend platitudes. If you’re creating content and rambling on your own, you may get people hooked for a couple of videos, but what happens when they realize you’re not formulating any kind of argument, but just throwing words around without any actual meaning?
Too much shallowness becomes investigable from a parrot.
Depth is an element in care.
Heinrich Heine was a German poet who, during the 1830s went on a tour around different cathedrals in France and wrote a series of letters detailing the experience. In one of them, he talks about the Cathedral of Amiens, where a friend with whom he was traveling asked him why could we no longer build things as beautiful as that.
Dear Alphonse, he replied, men in those days had convictions. We moderns have opinions. It requires something more than opinions to build a cathedral.
Heine wrote this in the 1830s but it could’ve been yesterday and it still resonates.
It might even make more sense now, since, with AI becoming such a part of our lives, without any kind of protocol on its integration in the education sector, we’re just witnessing an overproduction of opinions without any meaning behind them.
More parroting, less thinking.
This is why, people that hold the 4 traits I’ve mentioned here, are needed. People who breathe obsession, flexibility, resilience, and creativity will have convictions, not merely opinions. They will build what they think should exist in the world, regardless of what everyone else thinks, producing something that they believe is great and beautiful.
There needs to be a common vision, though. One that makes sure that every single one of these individuals is aligned when it comes to values and outcomes. Personally, I call it a Modern Golden Age. Maybe you have a different name for it, which is fine.
The point is that we need to assemble these people and then, it’s time to build.
Excellent João. The cathedral story, accompanied by the towering majesty of its image, make the point so clear. Opinions will not get us where we want and need to go next.