Taken as a whole ... there is systemic dysfunction. Given the amazing power of modern knowledge especially in science and technology, all sorts of things are possible. Together with a global population that is more educated than in the past, the situation should be great, and likely to get even better. In fact, the global economy is 'in a funk' and nobody seems to know what to do.

While there is very good science and technology that could be deployed for the benefit of society to achieve better socio-economic performance this is not being done. Why not and what to do about it is an important question. The progress of development has been much less than was expected 50 years ago ... not because science and technology does not exist ... not because the world is short of wealth and knowhow ... but because the approach is wrong, the process is wrong.

There are many constraints to success and rapid progress ... institutional, traditional, cultural, governmental, etc., etc. Progress and performance has been constrained by something ... or many things ... that add up to systemic dysfunction.

The problems are many. No one silver bullet will make much of a difference on its own. The easily recognized problems fall into a number of groups:

• Systemic dysfunction,

• Inaccessible data,

• Chaotic complex structure,

• Decline of professionalism,

• Value destroying dynamics.