With Unlimited Resources, What Would Innovators Solve? Insights from a Community Discussion

The question of what one would do with unlimited resources—boundless funding, talent, or time—often unearths a fascinating mix of grand ambitions, personal passions, and pragmatic solutions. A community discussion explored this hypothetical, revealing a diverse range of problems innovators are eager to solve, and why.

Tackling Societal & Human Challenges

Many responses focused on alleviating human suffering and improving societal structures.

• Homelessness and Urban Renewal: One prominent idea was to combat homelessness by purchasing and renovating old downtown buildings for housing, coupled with on-site support services for addiction and reintegration. The motivation is twofold: to help those suffering and to revitalize neglected urban centers. This approach, while requiring significant capital and political will, offers a concrete path to change.
• Healthcare Revolution: Commenters envisioned a healthcare system incentivized to keep people healthy rather than profiting from illness. A radical suggestion included replacing human doctors with AI and robots for data-driven, emotionless decision-making. Another focused on aging, specifically increasing 'healthspan.' The idea is that targeted interventions, like maintaining immune cells that clear senescent cells, are within reach with sufficient funding and focus, not necessarily 'unlimited' resources.
• Global Development & Equality: Urbanizing slums to boost GDP and integrate marginalized communities was another ambitious goal. On a broader social scale, one user proposed supporting movements towards matriarchy and reforming legal systems to ensure women's property and inheritance rights globally.

Advancing Technology and Science

Unsurprisingly, technological and scientific breakthroughs were common themes.

• Fundamental Research and New Tools: One individual detailed a five-year personal quest to solve prime factorization, leading to the development of a new C-based programming language designed to improve upon C++ by automating class creation. This highlights how specific technical challenges can drive broader innovation, though funding is a barrier.
• Future-Defining Technologies: Ideas included accelerating the adoption of cognitive AI in scientific research, transforming protein and energy production, and embarking on large-scale space exploration—mining asteroids, building orbital habitats, and colonizing the Solar System.

Reforming Systems and Addressing Modern Ails

Systemic problems and contemporary societal issues also featured.

• Political Reform: In the U.S. context, getting rid of the Electoral College and gerrymandering was a specific political goal cited to improve democratic processes.
• Information Overload: A significant concern raised was the overwhelming spread of information (and misinformation), seen as cognitively damaging and socially divisive. One commenter even contemplated funding technology to destroy the technologies that over-connect us, advocating for a return to less screen time.
• Humorous but Pointed Critiques: In a lighter but relatable vein, one user dreamed of using unlimited resources to form a private army to eradicate all cookie banners, a testament to widespread user frustration with a ubiquitous digital annoyance.

Philosophical and Intangible Problems

Some problems identified transcend purely material or technical solutions.

• The Human Element: One commenter lamented the "lack of kindness," deeming it a simple problem with no solution, regardless of resources. Another pointed to the "problem of evil men," suggesting the separation of "evil billionaires from their property" as a starting point.

Reflections on "Unlimited Resources"

Interestingly, the premise itself was questioned. One user noted that "unlimited" isn't always an interesting category because it removes constraints. Several others, while responding to the prompt, indicated that their chosen problems didn't necessarily require unlimited resources to begin tackling them, but rather more focused investment and effort. This suggests that many grand challenges have accessible starting points.

Ultimately, the discussion paints a picture of a community driven by a desire to fix, build, and improve, whether on a global scale or within a niche technical domain. The 'unlimited resources' thought experiment serves as a powerful lens through which to view our collective aspirations and the barriers—real or perceived—to achieving them.