Zetema

ζήτημα — a question worth seeking an answer to

Every problem is a question the world is asking.

Real problems from every place, each tied to its sources. Sit with one. Understand it. Then build what solves it.

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The index holds 130 problems, traced to 99 sources. They wait for the first voice to say which should be solved.

“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Ada Lovelace · Notes on Menabrea's Sketch of the Analytical Engine, Note A (1843)

Words for whoever builds today

Problems

What people in Tamil Nadu want solved

Where Tamil Nadu

The pantheon

Wisdom to see it. Craft to fix it.

Old emblems for the work of solving real problems for a community, from Greek, Indian and Egyptian traditions. Each keeps watch over a part of Zetema.

Wisdom and learning

Seeing a problem clearly, and telling truth from noise.

  • Athena’s owl

    Greek goddess of wisdom and craft; her owl sees in the dark.

    Sources and proof

  • Sarasvatī’s haṃsa

    Goddess of knowledge; her swan parts milk from water.

    Every brief

  • Thoth’s ibis

    Egyptian god of writing and reckoning.

    The market read

  • Bṛhaspati

    Teacher of the gods, linked with the planet Jupiter.

    The builder’s path

Craft and work

Making the thing, and putting it in people’s hands.

  • Prometheus’s fire

    Brought fire, and with it craft, to people.

    Builders

  • Viśvakarmā’s tools

    The divine architect, honoured by engineers.

    Forks and fixes

  • Hephaestus’s anvil

    Greek god of the forge and of makers.

    Building in progress

  • Seshat’s star

    Egyptian goddess of measuring and records.

    Verified fixes

Prosperity

Value that reaches people: the market, tenders and sponsors.

  • Lakṣmī’s lotus

    Goddess of prosperity; her companion is also an owl.

    Market and tenders

  • Kubera’s treasury

    Keeper of wealth in Hindu tradition.

    Sponsors

  • Plutus’s horn

    Greek god of wealth; the horn of plenty.

    Pledges

  • Demeter’s wheat

    Greek goddess of harvest and abundance.

    Food and land problems

Beginnings and teaching

The first step, and passing knowledge on.

  • Eos’s dawn

    Greek goddess of daybreak: every day begins again.

    First wants, empty pages

  • Hermes’s staff

    Messenger and guide of travellers and trade.

    Sharing and invites

  • Dakṣiṇāmūrti’s banyan

    Śiva as teacher, seated under a banyan tree.

    Learning and challenges

  • Athena’s loom

    Weaving: many threads, one cloth.

    Community

The council

They asked hard questions too.

Each portrait is drawn from the shape of a thinker’s work, not their face. Their words travel with the problems and kits they fit.

Socrates

Athens · 5th c. BCE

Asked until the answer held. A spiral of questions.

Gārgī Vācaknavī

Videha · Upaniṣadic age

Asked what the world is woven upon. Warp and weft.

Āryabhaṭa

Kusumapura · 499 CE

Taught that the earth turns. Orbits within orbits.

Hypatia

Alexandria · c. 400 CE

Taught the conic sections. Circle, ellipse, parabola.

Pāṇini

Gandhāra · c. 4th c. BCE

Wrote a whole language as rules. A lattice.

Archimedes

Syracuse · 3rd c. BCE

Moved the earth, in principle. The lever and the spiral.

How it works

I · Seek

Every problem is drawn from public sources, and every claim points at its quote. What cannot be quoted is left out.

“Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light.”

असतो मा सद्गमय। तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय।

asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · 1.3.28

II · Gather

People who live a problem say they want it solved and what it is worth to them. Nobody is charged.

“That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee.”
Marcus Aurelius · Meditations 6.54 (tr. G. Long)

III · Build and verify

Builders take up a problem and ship. It counts as solved only when the people who have it say it worked.

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
Isaac Newton · letter to Robert Hooke, 5 February 1675/6

For builders

Take up a problem and build what solves it.

Every problem comes with a builder's kit. Reach the people who said they would test it once you have something to try.

Start building →

For tool makers and companies

Sponsor a problem builders care about.

Put your tool next to real demand. Sponsorship is labelled and never changes a brief or its ranking.

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