There are a lot of solutions that may solve problems, but are they easy to find?! Yes, Google knows everything, but if there are no results for my problem, where should I go?
In the last period, I saw more platforms that share ideas for the next billion startups like needgap.com, kern.al, and some platforms like producthunt.com.
Is there any platform that is built for people with a problem who meet other people with solutions?
Start working on solving it yourself. Publish your findings. Be open to feedback and critique. People who are interested in working on similar problems or have something to share will find you.
Having said that, I agree that we perhaps may need a platform for something like this, since solving problems in my opinion is all about points of view and options. An open platform with simple rules that lets everyone participate in solving all kinds of problems will be a huge step for mankind even if only less than 1% of all proposed solutions make sense.
Some more thoughts on the subject.
Problems have a property of converging into patterns of similar types across different domains. I wonder what kind of solutions may emerge, if some of our unsolved problems[0] were dumbed down into simpler stories/relations (everyday metaphors) and then be openly made available for anyone to take a shot at.
But, building such a platform is going to be nearly impossible because that very desire is top-down in nature. Even if something like it does accidentally emerge and come to exist, will we act thoughtfully and utilise it like we should? [1]
Good luck!
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_unsolved_problems
I wrote the post being oriented more to the problem, because solutions are presented to everyone. And as you mention 1% of them are truly well defined.
In the same context of building a platform that can be a step further in any kind of problem that humanity can have, there are a lot of websites that can allow this type of content. Is this really needed? Would someone use it?
So for example I'm intrigued what makes someone ask for help? Or does it? Usually, they ask for help or search to solve a problem when the problem is oppressive.
> will we act thoughtfully and utilise it like we should?
As a human being, we have stupid problems, actually, some are not problems so we if we build a platform which define problems, a lot of topics could be crappy questions.