Crowdsourced backend of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential
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Human-caused climate change
Anthropogenic change means human-induced change to nature of a natural system. Human activity is...
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Poisonous algae
A wide variety of species of algae grow in the oceans. Some few occasionally grow very fast or "...
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Ecstasy
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), popularly called ecstasy, is one of the...
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Inadequate education of indigenous peoples
Inadequate educational facilities result in inadequate educational achievement of indigenous...
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Simple goitre
The causes for simple goitres are: (1) Enlargement of thyroid gland is common during puberty and 2... -
Non-alignment
Non-alignment is a government policy of non-adherence to either of the major power blocs. To the... -
Inaccessibility of health services
Modern facilities and techniques for preventive medicine, health practices and curative procedures... -
Surface to surface missiles
The development, sale and use of ballistic missiles with ranges from less than a hundred...
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Racism
Racism and racial discrimination are in practice used in a range of overlapping ways. The...
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Tobacco smoking
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the USA and causes 400,000 deaths per year...
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Delirium alcoholicum
Delirium tremens is an extremely serious problem which can appear in an alcohol dependent...
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Myasthenia gravis
Myasthenia Gravis (MG) can start any time during childhood or adulthood. The symptoms are weakness... -
Late blight of potato
The organism which causes late blight of potato is Phytophthora infestans. The potato...
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Cowardice
Cowardice remains a continuing challenge in military operations because of the ways in which... -
Nitrates as pollutants
Nitrates are used in chemical fertilizers. When applied to fields much of nitrates often filter...
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Experimental religion
New forms of religion (developed as a result of the inadequacy of traditional religious doctrine...
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Sexually transmitted diseases
Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are a wide ranging group of diseases and can have severe...
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Irresponsible international trade
War crimes, unlawful killings, torture and other serious human rights abuses have been committed... -
Avarice
Avarice is the state of being in which an individual attaches such value to wealth and possessions... -
Conjoined twins
This phenomenon of unknown cause arises during the process of monozygotic (identical) twinning....
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Exploitation in employment
The most extreme form of exploitation in employment is slavery. Most groups which are exploited in... -
Polypharmacy
A new medical diagnosis is "polypharmacy." The diagnosis sometimes appears on medical charts of... -
Private ownership
The ownership, use and sale of productive property has become a right of the individual rather...
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Dumbwalking
The practice of walking slowly and without looking where you are going because you are looking ...
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Diabetes insipidus
Diabetes insipidus is due to lack or diminution of the anti-diuretic hormone normally produced by... -
Impropriety
Debates about public (and even private) morality are curiously selective. This is often not...
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Pride
Pride is in the first place rebellion against the limitations that existence places on an... -
Goitre
Any dramatic enlargement of the thyroid gland is called a goitre. Goitres are often removed because... -
Natural disasters
Relatively sudden and widespread disturbance of the social system and life of a community or...
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Sarcocystosis
Infestation with or disease caused by sporozoan protozoans of the genus Sarcocystis....
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Methamphetamine drugs
Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant drug that strongly activates certain systems in the brain... -
Otitis media
Otitis media (ear infection) is a disorder involving inflammation and/or infection of the...
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Rhabdomyolysis
Rhabdomyolysis is a condition that causes skeletal muscle to degenerate. In some cases, this... -
Religious intolerance
Religious intolerance involves acts denying the right of people of another religious faith to... -
Neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized particularly by cafe-au-lait... -
Erythema
Erythema is an abnormal redness of the skin due to dilation of the superficial capillaries of the... -
Inhuman methods of conception
Artificial insemination in human involves introducing sperm (usually from a man not the husband...
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Limited individual attention span
Although limited attention span is characteristic of people suffering from severe debilitation, it... -
Misuse of satellite surveillance by governments
The use of spy satellites in space and the privileged use of telecommunication channels have biased... -
Hypostatic pneumonia
Hypostatic pneumonia manifests at the base of the chest cavity, when the lower portions of the...
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Wernicke's encephalopathy
This syndrome is characterized by impaired memory, confusion and lack of coordination, caused by... -
Pneumothorax
A collection of air or gas in the pleural cavity.
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Loss of decorum
With increasing age, there is a tendency for physical and mental functions to deteriorate. A less... -
Presumptuous management of the environment
Environmental management tends to define natural systems as a resource base for human use thus...
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Discrimination against women in the legal profession
Women barristers have to contend with widespread sex discrimination at the Bar from the moment of... -
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentional self-destruction. While most suicidal acts are self-performed...
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Diseases of beneficial insects
Diseases of insects are important when the insects concerned are beneficial to man. A diseased... -
Anaplasmosis
Anaplasmosis, sometimes called gallsickness, is a disease of domestic and wild animals, caused...
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Misrepresentation of information to consumers
Consumer fraud is a false or misleading representation of a material fact, whether by words or... -
Exploitation
Exploitation is the process, condition or result of an individual, group or institution taking... -
LSD abuse
Regarded as an exotic drug for those seeking mind-altering experiences, lysergic acid...
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Paraphrenia
Obsolete term. -
Paranoia
Paranoid personality disorder is a pattern of pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such... -
Extremism
Fundamentalism is any system of all-embracing belief held with rigid certitude and coupled with...
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Polymyositis
Polymyositis (PM) has its onset anytime from childhood to late adulthood. The symptoms are weakness... -
Trichomoniasis
Trichomoniasis is an inflammatory disease of the urogenital organs or the intestines, caused by...
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Discrimination against domestic servants
In many countries, domestic service is the main source of employment for young girls, who, often on... -
Venomous animals
The animals which can inflict injury on man due to their venom include spiders, scorpions, and sun... -
Inadequate medical facilities
In both developed and developing countries the physical facilities for adequate health care... -
St Louis encephalitis
The St. Louis encephalitis is carried by the Culex nigripalpus mosquito, which feeds...
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Civil violence
Groups of citizens, armed or unarmed, may initiate violent actions with the intent to demonstrate... -
Discrimination against women in sports
The very traits that set women apart as successful athletes: an aggressively competitive nature and... -
Civil war
A society that has no effective channels for settling political and economic grievances among its... -
Tonsillitis
Tonsillitis, an inflammation of the tonsils, may be acute or chronic, chronic tonsillitis... -
Air pollution from luxury liners
The cruise ship industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the mass tourism market, with ...
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Baldness
Most elderly people experience hair thinning as one expression of aging. Among males, however,...
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Hurricanes
Tropical cyclones can produce intense vortices of air with winds spiralling in towards the low-...
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Quelea
Swarms of quelea birds regularly cause considerable damage to crops of sorghum, millet, rice, and... -
Strikebreaking
The use of intentional use of force or the threat of force to interfere with peaceful picketing by... -
Unauthorized access to computer information systems
Computer information systems are vulnerable to information invasion by unauthorized users. This...
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Seasonal unemployment
A seasonal worker generally works in one to four month periods, most often in the building,... -
Cat scratch fever
A bacterial (rickettsial) disease that can be acquired from the scratch or bite of a cat; it is...
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Inappropriate modernization of agriculture
Through the industrialization of agriculture, the productivity per unit of land and per farmer...
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Grave robbery
Graves have been robbed of their valuables for centuries. The practice of burying valuables with... -
Beetles as insect pests
In the animal kingdom beetles form by far the largest major group or order. At least 250,000...
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National public debt
Public debt is the obligation on the part of the government, one of its agencies, or of local...
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Children in poverty
Relationships have been established between poverty and high infant mortality rates, high child...
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Disease vectors
A vector is a transmitter of disease from one animal to another or to man. Most of the causal... -
Hooliganism
Hooliganism can be defined as wanton destruction of property or injury to persons, sometimes...
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Pituitary gland disorders
The pituitary is a small gland inside the head, behind the bridge of the nose. The pituitary is...
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Proliferation of commercialism
Individuals or societies are becoming more and more dominated by acquisitiveness and valuing all...
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Heresy
A theological doctrine or system rejected as false by ecclesiastical authority, heresy is...
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Dental caries
Dental caries, or cavity formation, results from the gradual deterioration of the enamel, dentine,... -
Neuropathy
Neuropathy is an abnormal degeneration state of the nerves. -
Abuse of tourism for sexual purposes
Tourism for the purpose of casual homosexual or heterosexual encounters, particularly in the...
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Lice as insect pests
Anoplura are the sucking lice that live in the hair of mammals and feed upon their blood. They are... -
Cohabitation
Cohabitation is the living together of a couple as in marriage, but without the legal or...
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Exhaustion of mineral resources
Industrial development has placed increasing demand on the available mineral resources. These... -
Friedreichs ataxia
Friedreichs ataxia is a hereditary disease resembling loco-motor ataxia and due to degenerative... -
Substance abuse
Drug abuse is the use of any licit or illicit chemical substance that results in physical,...
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Geomagnetic storms
Solar flares produce bursts of ionizing radiation (sudden emission of electrons and protons) which... -
Frustration
Generally speaking, frustration may be seen as a limiting case of conflict, with only one goal... -
Tension headaches
This headache may last from 30 minutes to a week. It is non-pulsating, mild to moderate in...
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Bombardment
Bombing is to attack with a destructive device containing explosive or incendiary material or gas... -
Solid wastes
Solid wastes include domestic refuse and other discarded solid materials, such as those from... -
Human immunodeficiency virus infection
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the infective agent for acquired human...
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Lack of biocoenosis
The interdependence of plants, animals and bacteria in ecological communities is breaking down as... -
Ageism
The systematic oppression of older people by younger ones. People of advancing age are silenced by... -
Mitochondrial diseases
Mitochondrial diseases are whole body diseases but the exact features of the disease vary from...
The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential was initiated in 1972 following a collaboration between two international non-profits, the Union of International Associations (UIA) and Mankind 2000. It is the result of an ambitious effort to collect and present information on the problems humanity is confronted with, as well as the challenges such problems pose to societies' values, development strategies and concept formation.
The online version of the resource is currently undergoing significant transformation, and the publishing model is changing in exciting new ways. The main points are:
- Whilst the above NGOs remain equal copyright holders of the data, it is becoming possible for partners to re-publish any content on presentation sites under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA)
- Content of the database is being made centrally editable at edit.ewphp.org — to allow content changes on this site to propagate to any and all presentation sites
Please feel free to get in touch if you want to know more about the project, the ongoing transformation, or if you aspire to join the volunteer team as a database editor, presentation site developer or any other skill you feel might benefit the project!
News
- March 2016: An initial version of an API that allows retrieval and licensed re-use of the data is ready at demo.ewphp.org. We are currently working with selected developers, and a first public implementation of the API is taking shape as well. News about launch of both will follow soon!
- June 2015: Read the paper and presentation "Loop Mining in the Encyclopedia of World Problems" prepared for the 17th International Futures Conference "Futures Studies Tackling Wicked Problems" in Turku, Finland, 11-12. June 2015 — www.futuresconference.fi/2015