Simplifying Complex Problems

The process of making complex and controversial decisions, that is, dealing with moral or ethical dilemmas, have intrigued people and inspired writers from time immemorial. Dilemmas give both color and depth to characters in good literary works. But beyond literary fiction, dilemmas occupy society in every day issues such as in introducing legislation or solving current political problems. One example of a current political dilemma is how to deal with Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. If it were possible to assess and quantify each of the alternative solutions for a given problem, the process of decision making would be much easier. If a problem involves only two optional solutions, game theory techniques can be used. However, real life problems are usually multi-unit, multi-optional problems, as in Iran's nuclear quest.