# How to Achieve True Global Unity On Planet Earth
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 27, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287 "2013-08-27T11:27:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/41 "2013-08-29T10:18:22Z")
That’ll teach **thepillar** to stop coming around here with his hippie-dippie, kumbaya, pass-the-bong ideas.
{{group hug}}
🙂
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/42 "2013-08-29T10:35:36Z")
I’m not saying things can’t be improved. I’m just saying that the human race can’t be reasoned into peace. At best it has to be tricked, a la _Watchmen_.
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### Author:  [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/43 "2013-08-29T13:21:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> No we’re not. We maintain a thin veneer of rationality atop our irrational monkey brains and our instinctual lizard brains. You’ll get much further in understanding the human condition if you start from the standpoint of us as irrational, superstitious creatures than as enlightened beings.
Basically rational: we reliably act in our own best interests (children, the insane, and so on excepted). Of course, what we _perceive_ to be in our best interest is often not. There’s nothing enlightened about it, but a stable, peaceful society can be built from everyone acting in their own best interest: that’s what we have now.
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### Author:  [@thepillar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thepillar)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/44 "2013-08-29T13:53:48Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> That’ll teach **thepillar** to stop coming around here with his hippie-dippie, kumbaya, pass-the-bong ideas.
>
> {{group hug}}
>
> 🙂
Teach??? What the hell are you talking about? If this has anything to do with the ‘sarcastic philosopher’, understand that I’m just letting him wallow in his own ignorance:
“Philosophy has been defined [as]: The science of things divine and human, and of the causes in which they are contained…”
–Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic, Sir William Hamilton
Furthermore, let’s not forget that the purpose of Philosophy, according to Socrates, is to contemplate God and abstract the soul from corporeal sense.
Now, could you please pass my bong back 😃
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### Author:  [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/45 "2013-08-29T14:01:46Z")
The way to achieve total unity on the planet is to kill everyone except one person.
No matter what, there will always be disputes. As mentioned above, the best way to avoid armed conflict seems to be democracy and international trade. Is it true, as I’ve heard say, that there has been no war between modern democracies that are significant trading partners (or something like that)? I hope that’s not just a “no true scotsman” statement.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/46 "2013-08-29T14:13:40Z")
> [@thepillar](#):
>
> Teach??? What the hell are you talking about? If this has anything to do with the ‘sarcastic philosopher’, understand that I’m just letting him wallow in his own ignorance:
>
> “Philosophy has been defined [as]: The science of things divine and human, and of the causes in which they are contained…”
>
> –Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic, Sir William Hamilton
>
> Furthermore, let’s not forget that the purpose of Philosophy, according to Socrates, is to contemplate God and abstract the soul from corporeal sense.
>
> Now, could you please pass my bong back 😃
You can keep your bong, for all the good it is doing you.
American Heritage Dictionary:
> [@](#):
>
> **phi·los·o·phy** (f-ls-f)
> n. pl. phi·los·o·phies
>
> 1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
> 2. Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
> 3. A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry: the philosophy of Hume.
> 4. The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
> 5. The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts, except medicine, law, and theology.
> 6. The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
> 7. A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory: an original philosophy of advertising.
> 8. A system of values by which one lives: has an unusual philosophy of life.
edited to add: anyone promoting mysticism, theosophy, freemasonry and the movie _Zeigeist_ should take a good long look in the mirror before accusing others of ignorance.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/47 "2013-08-29T15:44:30Z")
> [@thepillar](#):
>
> So my question is: what are the viable strategies available to humankind for ‘reuniting’ with our ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ and when can they be implemented?
Given that we are here, exchanging ideas over the internet; that magic medium that allows everyone to come together to experience the epiphany of brotherhood, and yet we still cannot come to agreement, leads me to conclude that the answer to your question of when, is: Longer than you think.
> [@thepillar](#):
>
> My opinion for tackling this problem, I think, could rest with Philosophy. People should be able to understand that despite the apparent physical differences, we are all one. But that’s just my opinion. I would however like to hear the views of others, so please feel free to express them here. 🙂
We are not one. We are not anything like one. We’re more like, 7.2 billion. Other important differences have been pointed out to you up-thread.
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### Author:  [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/48 "2013-08-30T21:36:12Z")
> [@Learjeff](#):
>
> The way to achieve total unity on the planet is to kill everyone except one person.
>
> .
Unless that person has Multiple Personality Disorder. Oops.
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### Author:  [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/49 "2013-08-30T21:56:14Z")
This is absolutely something that we should strive for, but it is not something we can achieve in the foreseeable future, short of a sudden and dramatic shift including possibly more than one of the following: free/cheap energy, discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, a massively successful global philosophy, or some sort of global near-extinction event.
I think globally, we’ve made huge strides as a species in recent decades, and ultimately the internet will be one of the major tools because its a way of uniting us and sharing ideas. But we still have a long way to go.
One of the biggest problems I see is that we have to overcome human nature. Just based on how we’ve evolved, we’re naturally competitive and have a desire to horde resources. This means, even if most people are starting to be able to overcome those base urges and pool their resources to the common good, there’s still plenty of people who are stuck in a mindset of having as much as they can. Ultimately, sure, if absolutely everyone can truly work together, it would be awesome, but it only takes a small handful of people to create enough disruption that it starts a cascading effect.
This is where those other things come in place. If we had nearly free energy and resources, there would be virtually no benefit to hording, and there would be less impact on others as it happened. We’d have more incentive to work together because then I’d hope we’d have greater desire to maximize what we can accomplish instead. I think aliens could make a difference too, because we tend to be tribal and be helpful to “us” and often hostile to “them”; but with aliens around, we may be more inclined to see all of humanity as “us” and be more inclined to work together. Similarly if we have some kind of global disaster with only a few of us left, maybe we’ll be forced to work together. Even if it was only briefly, look at how quickly people work together after major disasters, like 9/11, Tsunamis, Earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, etc.
Hell, look at the future in Star Trek, it took a global nuclear war, essentially free energy and other massive improvements in technology, and first contact to make that generally fairly optimistic future for the cooperation of humanity. Frankly, I think we’re looking at stuff at least on that level and quite a bit more time before I think we’d have that degree of unity. Regardless, I think we’ll make progress toward that as time goes on, but short of waiting for some massive events and/or the singularity, I doubt it’s something that has any real chance for a few hundred years.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/50 "2013-08-30T23:09:11Z")
I’m not sure anyone wishing to have people treat them like brothers and sisters have ever had real brothers and sisters.
We are all one big happy family - but you other people stay away from my stuff!
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