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The builder's path

Five steps from a problem to its solution.

For: People in Assam aren't warned of dangerous humid heat, because India's heatwave alerts look at temperature alone.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ

Socrates · Plato, Apology 38a

Routes to a solution

Six ways to take this forward

Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Assam.

  1. Step 1

    Join an impact incubator

    Shape a model that pays for itself without excluding the people who need it.

    • Assam Startup, The Nest

      Assam's government incubator in Guwahati.

    • Villgro ↗

      Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.

    • Social Alpha ↗

      Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.

    • Acumen ↗

      Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.

  2. Step 2

    Raise patient capital

    Impact funds and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.

    • Villgro ↗

      Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.

    • Social Alpha ↗

      Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.

    • CIIE.CO (IIM Ahmedabad)

      Incubator and investor at IIM Ahmedabad, with impact programmes.

    • Acumen ↗

      Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.

What this problem needs

Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.

  • Alerts
  • Open data
  • Mobile
  • Maps

Ideas to explore

  • Idea 1District feels-like alertsEach morning, pull forecast temperature and humidity for every Assam district headquarters, compute the heat index or wet-bulb temperature, and send an SMS and web alert when it crosses a danger level.
  • Idea 2Backtest on past summersRecompute the alert for 2024 to 2026 from archived observations and compare the days it would have fired with the days the article and district advisories describe.

Specific to this problem

Talk to first

Starter prompt

Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.

Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Assam, India.

Problem: People in Assam aren't warned of dangerous humid heat, because India's heatwave alerts look at temperature alone.
Who it hurts: Residents of Assam's cities and districts, especially outdoor workers, children and older people, during the humid pre-monsoon and monsoon months.
The moment it hurts: A day when the thermometer stays under the heatwave threshold but humidity pushes the feels-like temperature past 50°C, and no alert is issued.
What people do today: Districts issue occasional precautionary advisories, such as school closures or revised timings. Most people rely on the official heatwave alerts, which rarely include Assam.
Why it is still unsolved: The official heatwave criteria use maximum air temperature and its departure from normal; relative humidity is not part of them, so Assam rarely qualifies and has no Heat Action Plan.
What solved looks like: A free daily heat-stress alert for each Assam district, by SMS and web, based on wet-bulb or feels-like temperature from public forecasts, with plain advice for outdoor workers and schools, checked against at least one past summer of local observations.
Where: Assam, India

First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions.
Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use.
Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
  1. Understand it

    Talk to the people who live it before you build.

    “In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.”

    Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.

    Louis Pasteur · lecture at the University of Lille, 7 December 1854
  2. Prototype with AI

    Get a working version in front of people fast.

    Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.

    “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)
  3. Find the data

    Open data that fits this problem.

    “You cannot step twice into the same river.”
    Heraclitus · Fragment B91, via Plato's Cratylus
  4. Build it

    Tools matched to what this problem needs.

    “Arise, awake; seek out the wise and learn.”

    उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत

    uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata

    Kaṭha Upaniṣad · 1.3.14
  5. Launch and get support

    Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.

    “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”
    Richard Feynman · Cargo Cult Science, Caltech commencement address (1974)

Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.