Above the human predicament

Beginning on any dot, draw four straight lines that connect all nine dots. Each line drawn must begin where the preceding line ends.

Most of us engage in a fair amount of problem solving. We use reason and initiative to get past the obstacles that crop up. Admittedly, the problems we face are rarely as inconsequential as a childhood puzzle. They are the familiar issues of a world—from individual concerns with finances, health, and family well-being, to civilization-sized quandaries about how to protect the environment or deal with devastating diseases.

But the little puzzle does raise a couple of interesting questions about how we tackle problems in general. Namely, how quick are we to give up? And how great is our tendency to look for a solution solely within a problem's implied framework?

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