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Writer's pictureVishnuteerth Agnihotri

Gifted World Challenge #4 - Mar 16-29, 2024

Updated: Jun 19

Hello everyone!


Welcome to the 4th of our Fortnightly Challenge blog series. Every alternate Saturday, we will post a question for you to ponder on and solve. You can submit your answers in the google form linked at the end of the blog.

The 3 best answers (as judged by the Gifted World team) will be featured on our blog.


First, we have a teaser..


Imagine a town overrun by venomous cobras, causing fear among its residents. The government decides to tackle the problem by offering a reward for every dead cobra presented to them. Initially, this seems like a perfect solution, but soon, the town faces an unexpected turn of events, leading to even more cobras than before. What could have gone wrong? What is your guess?


Watch the below video after you make your guess.



Unintended consequences like in the above example are unfortunately common. A simple and effective way to visualize 'cause and effect' loops like this is to use a tool called Loopy. Watch the below video to look at how we modeled the Cobra effect in Loopy and click here to play with the model.




The Challenge- make a Loopy model of your own and share it!

When we make decisions, sometimes things don't go as planned and unexpected things can happen (these unexpected things are called 'unintended consequences'). It's like setting off a row of dominoes; sometimes they fall in a way we didn't think they would.





Systems thinking is like stepping back to look at the whole picture, like looking at all the dominoes from above, not just one. Causal loop diagrams are special drawings that help us see how different things affect each other, kind of like drawing arrows between the dominoes to show which ones knock down others. This helps us make better choices by understanding how everything is connected.


Here's the challenge- Study any interconnected situation you see in your own life or learn about something and and make a Loopy model and share it through this form. Remember that after making the Loopy model- you will need to save the link by clicking on the 'save link' button on the right hand side of the screen. We recommend using a link shortening service like bit.ly. One example of a situation in your own life could be that you avoid studying a subject because it seems too difficult, and thus fall behind, and falling behind makes it even more difficult!


There are many case studies of unintended consequences you can find on the internet. So check out something that interests you. Here is a list of 30 Unintended Consequences Of Global Events That Shaped Where Humanity Is Today | Thought Catalog if you want to check this out.


The last day for your submission is Friday, March 29, 2024.



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2 commentaires


People started raising cobras to increase their population in order to gain more rewards.

J'aime

People started raising cobras to increase their population in order to get more rewards.

J'aime
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