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(Steal this idea!)
Few people have trouble visualizing what it takes to make war. Soldiers, guns, bombs and bullets... The tools are concrete and images of them in action fill the screens of our TVs and movie theaters. But try to visualize making peace. Most people have no idea where to start.
Perhaps this explains why, when around 49% of our nation's annual budget goes to military-related expenditures, the Department Of Peace proposal gets voted down every year by Congress.
That's where my Solution Webs Analysis Program (SWAP) would come into the picture. A database would be developed with fields for each nation's wants, needs, strengths, resources, concerns and undesirable behaviors. (Synonyms would be automatically cross-referenced.) SWAP would then look for "solution webs", where groups of countries could swap resources to meet each other's needs, while simultaneously removing the causes of undesirable behavior.
Here's a sample solution web to show how they might work:
| Iceland | North Korea | United States | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behavior | Whaling in defiance of international law | Building nuclear weapons in defiance of UN | Foreign policy is making world less safe |
| Concerns | Without whaling, economy suffers | Famine; freezing temps; pollution; being a pariah | WMDs; S. Korea's safety; endangered species |
| Needs | Export to replace whaling | Nationwide electricity | National Security |
| Wants | End to whaling hassles | Escape from poverty | Better global image |
| Strengths | Hydroelectric expertise | Strong self reliance ethic | World's only superpower |
| Resources | Hydroelectric experts, hardware, examples | Underdeveloped hydroelectric resources | International influence; money |
The US already spends many millions of dollars to keep the threat posed by North Korea under control. Instead, the US could spend this money on Icelandic hydropower experts and equipment to be sent to North Korea.
This would develop Iceland's hydropower expertise as an export. In return, Iceland would agree to stop whaling. North Korea would get non-polluting, renewable electricity, since hydropower doesn't require ongoing imports like crude oil or uranium ore. In exchange for this, North Korea would agree to end their nuclear programs, and to allow weapons inspections.
CONCLUSION
SWAP, once developed, would be able to suggest solution webs that include dozens
of nations. Each problem would have numerous potential solutions, and these
could
be rated
for viability by the Department of Peace, the State
Department
or the UN. Better yet, the software could be in open source form,
empowering citizens across the globe to find solutions to seemingly
intractable problems, and to build grassroots movements to support
their implementation.
With constant database updates (borrowing heavily from the public domain CIA World Factbook), the software would have the flexibility to provide scenarios for a rapidly changing set of facts.
It's amazing that we've functioned for so long without this type of technology, given the complexity of modern international affairs. Let's build a real roadmap to peace!