Poll: 7 billion people, one opinion.

[Custard_Angel]

Objectively, there would be no disagreements or wars.

Subjectively, we would lose the richness of society.

Objectively, we wouldn't know we were missing out on anything.

Either way works and is equally valid entirely because on either side we have no knowledge of what the other side would actually be like.

 

[Whateveralot]

Everyone loves me.

Screw world peace, how amazing would it be if everyone loved me on sight.

 

[Blow_Pop]

Shit no. I like being my own man.

Shackling my mind to the rest of humanity? Fuck no.

Not only this^ but also how boring would that be? And who gets to decide what ideas are right and wrong? I could only see that as turning out like 1984......

 

[genericusername64]

There needs to be different opinions, because humans are imperfect. Only by working together do we reach our goals.
Man, that was cheezy.

Yeah, it was, I felt a little ashamed for you. It depends on what the topic is, if everyone, say thought that Creed was the best band ever it would be a much worse place.

 

[PurePareidolia]

If everyone thinks the same way nobody will ever want to change things. That would be so boring.

 

[SammiYin]

It'd be a hell of a lot more boring, and I'd be forced into thinking Portal was the best thing since Jesus Christ

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

I'd rather not be a zerg(insert some other hivemind)
Would have been one hell of a boring world

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Conflict is the basis of change. Having different opinions is essential to human development, just look at the amount of technology that's been created because of war. diversity of anything is a good thing.

 

[Kryzantine]

no, cause then that leads to stagnation and no further development. while maybe not EVERYONE thought the earth was flata nd you would sail straight off the edge if you went to far, most people did, or at the very least few people were vocal enough to ***** about it despite the crazy label getting stamped down.

I literally skimmed the rest of the thread just to see if anyone else has addressed this yet, and nobody has, so I guess I'll be the first to point out that the Earth was proven to be spherical by the 3rd century BCE, and that by the Medieval period, essentially every scholar acknowledged that the Earth was spherical - the story that Columbus couldn't get support for his voyages because everyone believed the world was flat was complete and utter bullshit, and a misinterpretation of a work done by Washington Irving during the early 1830s. The real story actually portrays Columbus in a much more negative light, seeing as how he miscalculated the circumference of the Earth significantly, and that his voyage would have easily starved out at sea had they not discovered Hispaniola.

And as for the comment on leeches, you act like they're a bad thing. People in the past actually recognized the effectiveness of leeches when it came to blood coagulation, and leeches are still used today. The problem wasn't leeches, but rather our lack of knowledge of anatomy during the time - for a long time, people believed in the 4 humours, and often chose to drain blood to balance the human body out.

As for the OP, though, it would suck. We like arguing with each other, at least trying out different viewpoints. To reach a consensus on anything is essentially abandoning all other possibilities, and we like at least having them.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Snip

Scholar being the key word there. Compare that to the Unscholar population, and its popularity pales in comparison by popular believe. Since the world is going to go by one opinion, and the easiest way to do that is to choose the most popular opinion, scholars would be in the loss.

As to leeches, sure, they have limited uses, but in the modern world you get laughed at saying leeches are the way to go, and most doctors probably wont let you leave the roomw ithout some serious argumentative thought. leeches were the go to, and if that didnt work and a blessing didnt work, you were more or less essentially fucked.

 

[Kryzantine]

Snip

Scholar being the key word there. Compare that to the Unscholar population, and its popularity pales in comparison by popular believe. Since the world is going to go by one opinion, and the easiest way to do that is to choose the most popular opinion, scholars would be in the loss.

As to leeches, sure, they have limited uses, but in the modern world you get laughed at saying leeches are the way to go, and most doctors probably wont let you leave the roomw ithout some serious argumentative thought. leeches were the go to, and if that didnt work and a blessing didnt work, you were more or less essentially fucked.

Except the scholarly opinion, in this case, was the only voice of power - I'm fairly certain that a majority of the population would not believe the world was flat, for it was certainly not preached to them. And certainly, no major decisions were made on that notion that the world was flat. There is no historical evidence of anyone refusing Columbus because they believed the world was flat. I imagine that there were people who believed it and may have preached it, popular citizens, the Sarah Palins in history, but when it came to serious discussion, it wasn't an issue.

And as I mentioned, the leech issue was more a general lack of knowledge of our anatomy as opposed to the uses of leeches themselves. You were downplaying their usefulness, something which I corrected. It's also not as if ancient medical practices are useless now - look at trepanation, the oldest form of surgery in our history, and it's still being practiced today. We call it barbaric, but it works. Don't hate on leeches.

 

[Mikkaddo]

Here's an odd hypothetical:
We all have opinions on... mostly everything. We all bring a different perspective and view point to an argument. And sometimes we're very vicious about our opinions, to the point of violence in some cases.

So, my question is; what if through some mass wave of magic (just go with it) all of us had the same view point on every single topic that ever has or ever will come up?

Would the world be better if we all had the same idea about everything?

Discuss.

"Variety is the spice of life" as it was once so eloquently put by a "potty mouthed" former brit games developer.

If everyone had the same opinion on everything forever, there would be no discussion, there would be no debate, there would be no evolution of ideas. The fact that people don't have the same opinions on everything is what makes the world vary so much, that's what makes it possible for new ideas to come to the surface.

 

[blaqknoise]

No. You can't really move forward if everyone thinks the same thing.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Well, here's the rub. What if it's the WRONG point of view?

A large amount of humankind's progress has come from people with differing ideas working out compromises and finding the best way forward that wasn't necessarily the one they thought was.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

Think of it this way, does a company work better if all the subordinates are just Yes Men that agree with the boss? Of course not.

Exchange of different opinions and ideas is what makes us strong as a species. That's actually why areas like Europe developed their technology faster than other parts of the world. They weren't smarter; there was just more collaboration between a larger number of individuals than, say, segregated island populations.

Basically, humanity evolves its technology, academics, and society by bouncing ideas off of each other. If we all had the same line of thinking, nothing would ever progress or change. Someone has to think outside the box and be radical sometimes; that's how innovation works.

 

[crazyfoxdemon]

Diversity begets change. Change begets progress. Simple as that.

 

[spectrenihlus]

Diversity in ideas and ideologies breeds progress.

edit ninjad

Basically what you propose is a vacuum and there is a reason the borg assimilated cultures it's because they couldn't develop those things on their own.

 

[Corax_1990]

Well, we would no longer be human, tahts for sure. But whatever we became, all of us, dedicated to the advancement of the entire race. No power in the verse could stop us.