How are we going to fix the world? Does it need fixing?

[LewsTherin]

We can fix it, but it would mean overhauling our entire way of thinking, political and economic theories, daily activities, and pretty much everything else. It would mean that the west wouldn't get to live in luxury while Africa and southeast Asia live in squalor. It would mean no more big mac's or starbucks coffees with twelve adjectives, and as the west have all the bits of paper that say they can rule the world, I really doubt it'll happen quickly or peacefully.

 

[hypothetical fact]

It needs positive thinking; the ability to turn a weakness into a strength. First we need to sterilise the world's starving children so in a generation poverty will drop to near zero percent. When the poor are gone we need to turn Africa into a global nuclear power plant, sure it will create poverty but that can be fixed with more sterilisations. With the room created from the world's destroyed power plants, we can build massive car parks to lower congestion and get everyone to work on time for a more productive world.

Yes, all of my plans to improve humanity involve some form of genocide.

 

[Dugarel]

The basic nature of humanity has never changed and never will change as long as we remain as biological creatures. We all have basic needs and a drive for survival, so we naturally seek out the means to survive and in human civilization that means money, lots and lots of money.

The only way to "fix" humanity is to make it no longer human, to take our humanity away. Not by killing everyone (although that could work) but by eliminating the need to seek out the means to survive.

Or we could just use duct tape.

 

[Damin_Knight]

Kira method, all the way.

 

[Stormcloud23]

humanity is finished, we need to build a spaceship and evacuate all the escapists.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

If the earth is doomed, so be it. It is not as if any of us will be around to see the after effects. Personally I doubt it is as doomed as people believe, although so long as whatever method they wish to put into practice does not interfere with my agenda, we're good.

 

[cobra_ky]

So I just finished the Watchmen for the second time, and the more I think about the ending the more it occurs to me that an alternative to internal conflict, like say a giant alien, and giving people as a whole something to stand together against (something usually shown at the cost of great life) is probably the most sensible solution to fixing a huge number of problems we see today (I say sensible, not necessarily right).

we already tried that with terrorism and it just made things worse.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

The Earth will fix Humanity when it's ready. It's been here a lot longer than we have.

What does that mean?

When it gets fed up with us, we'll be "dealt with".

That's not the way it works I'm afraid. Seeing as humanity is so ingenious, we will almost always find a way to survive. We could leave earth, or adopt an entirely new style of civilization, find various ways to survive any pandemic, exterminate any species that threatens us. One way or another humanity, or pockets of it, will always survive.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The Earth will fix Humanity when it's ready. It's been here a lot longer than we have.

What does that mean?

When it gets fed up with us, we'll be "dealt with".

That's not the way it works I'm afraid. Seeing as humanity is so ingenious, we will almost always find a way to survive. We could leave earth, or adopt an entirely new style of civilization, find various ways to survive any pandemic, exterminate any species that threatens us. One way or another humanity, or pockets of it, will always survive.

Keep telling yourself that. I know who my money's on.

 

[Scarecrow38]

We can fix it, but it would mean overhauling our entire way of thinking, political and economic theories, daily activities, and pretty much everything else. It would mean that the west wouldn't get to live in luxury while Africa and southeast Asia live in squalor. It would mean no more big mac's or starbucks coffees with twelve adjectives, and as the west have all the bits of paper that say they can rule the world, I really doubt it'll happen quickly or peacefully.

In terms of everyday social overhaul (without an external threat) it would never work. There's no way we can fix all the supposed problems in our society without destroying the good things we have. We wouldn't even be able to agree on what we did and didn't need to fix nor could we agree on the means. The above quote is exactly what would need to happen. We would never get any single government to do that though, let alone all of them, especially because all our politicians would essentially be out of a job.

Even with a crazy outside threat we wouldn't fix ourselves (though I personally think everything's fine and this is just the way it is). There is no way every government on earth would agree on anything, let alone changing everything. There isn't a 'New Game' option here. This is what we did and this is how it's always going to be. Still think life is great for me anyway.

Any type of intervention into someone else's business just leads to chaos.

 

[matrix3509]

I'm pretty sure the only way the world will get fixed is if we are all nearly wiped out by some big alien race, Ender's Game style. That way, we can pry our attention away from whether or not video games are bad for or "beloved" children.

I think its about time humanity is knocked back down the food chain a couple of notches, so we will start having to worry about our survival as a species again, times were so much better before we became sentient...

EDIT: [/sarcasm] ...just in case.

 

[000Ronald]

Of course there are things wrong with the world; plauge, disease, genocide. We all agree on that, no?

Here's where the problem comes in, though; tell me, what is "right"?

...

...

This whole issue touches on something my grandfather once told me; "Son, once you've lived as long as I have, you learn that the only difference two people can truly have is what they belive." You may belive that you can solve everyone's problems by uniting them under a global threat, but the person beside you may belive that a threat is not enough; people need to be dominated, ruled over by a god-like figure, because at the end of the day, people are fucked up.

And so it goes; you may create what you belive to be a perfect society; however, this society happens to be a republic with massive value on the worth of the individual. I know near a billion people on one side of the globe who would disagree with you on that point, and call you a pig. Or you could create a facist government where everyone is so afraid of the reprocussions of their actions that they are unwilling to do anything; I know near a billion more people on the other side of the globe who would disagree with you on that point, and call you a terrorist. Or you could create a society with no rules, no leadership, just people being people and living their lives the best they can; hovever, I'm sure near every government in the world would come after you at that point, and you would be wiped from the face of the earth.

Also, ask yourself this; you're asking about how to create a perfect society, right? This is rather unfeesable; people are not perfect, therefore nothing that comes from them can be considered perfect. Ask yourself this; would you trade a society where a lot of things are fucked up, but they can be solved for a society where everything is fucked up, and no one can do anything about it because they don't know?

I belive that strife and turmoil are part of mankind's better nature; not all people can be brave, not all people can be strong, not all people can stand up for what they belive in, but when you press them, the strong, the brave and the idealistic never fail to rise to the occasion.

Apologies Abound

 

[matrix3509]

Of course there are things wrong with the world; plauge, disease, genocide. We all agree on that, no?

Here's where the problem comes in, though; tell me, what is "right"?

...

...

This whole issue touches on something my grandfather once told me; "Son, once you've lived as long as I have, you learn that the only difference two people can truly have is what they belive." You may belive that you can solve everyone's problems by uniting them under a global threat, but the person beside you may belive that a threat is not enough; people need to be dominated, ruled over by a god-like figure, because at the end of the day, people are fucked up.

And so it goes; you may create what you belive to be a perfect society; however, this society happens to be a republic with massive value on the worth of the individual. I know near a billion people on one side of the globe who would disagree with you on that point, and call you a pig. Or you could create a facist government where everyone is so afraid of the reprocussions of their actions that they are unwilling to do anything; I know near a billion more people on the other side of the globe who would disagree with you on that point, and call you a terrorist. Or you could create a society with no rules, no leadership, just people being people and living their lives the best they can; hovever, I'm sure near every government in the world would come after you at that point, and you would be wiped from the face of the earth.

Also, ask yourself this; you're asking about how to create a perfect society, right? This is rather unfeesable; people are not perfect, therefore nothing that comes from them can be considered perfect. Ask yourself this; would you trade a society where a lot of things are fucked up, but they can be solved for a society where everything is fucked up, and no one can do anything about it because they don't know?

I belive that strife and turmoil are part of mankind's better nature; not all people can be brave, not all people can be strong, not all people can stand up for what they belive in, but when you press them, the strong, the brave and the idealistic never fail to rise to the occasion.

Apologies Abound

That awfully deep for a video game forum don't you think? However you may be right. I see it a different way (as long as we are on the subject of philosophy).

I think the framework of society has undergone a massive change since your grandfather was young. Maybe I'm just a massive pessimist, or maybe I spent too much time working in the service industry, but I believe that we now live in a society where genuinely good, honest people cannot possibly hope to thrive. There are beacons of hope, like this forum for instance, part of which inticed me to join up, but for the most part society reward people who lie, cheat, and steal the most, as long as they don't get caught.

I also believe that current society revels in its lack of resposibility. Without responsibility, the strong, and the brave won't ever rise up because they won't exist.

The society of your grandfather used to relish personal courage and responibility, but now its reviled. All this will continue until we implode.

All I really want is to go do an honest day's work, then come home and relax, but some dickwad who thinks he/she knows better always has to come around and cock it up for everyone. The phrase "Leave Well Enough Alone" comes to mind.

Meh, I guess I am just a huge pessimist after all.