A hyperproblem is a problem too big for any one person's head and too big for any one institution to coordinate, stretched over long times and planetary space. It's Morton's hyperobject recast as a problem.
How the word moved
I coined it at the end of the Planetarity Syllabus in January 2026. Metabology and planetarity both qualify, and metabology is the hyperproblem par excellence. Which is a polite way of saying I've signed up for the impossible.
In my words
"Think of a hyperobject, but as a problem."
from A Planetarity Syllabus, 19 Jan 2026
"The point is to build protocols that allow finite beings to act intelligently inside the impossible."
from A Planetarity Syllabus, 19 Jan 2026
Related
- Depends on Hyperobject - I modelled it on Morton's hyperobject.
- Related Metabology - "a hyperproblem par excellence".
- Related Planetarity - grasping planetarity is itself a hyperproblem.