How would you change the world?

Great Debates
1

I searched for this topic and didn’t find it specifically addressed anywhere - I assume if I have made an error in posting this, I will be informed.

Anyway. As this is the Great Debates forum, it seems appropriate to ask this. If you were given one chance to implement a plan that would change this world for the better, what would it be?

I myself would like to reform education, so that children are taught from the beginning to respect the scientific method of gathering data - the idea that everything must be proved by means of as unbiased an experiment as possible, and once proved by one person, must be proved by another, and is never believed to be the entire truth. Then, no later than high school, everyone has to take a logic class. Not Spock from Star Trek “What is this emotion you call… love?” logic, but the fundamentals of logical argument - learning the basic fallacies, all of that. Because it seems to me that an argument that sounds good is more readily believed by everybody than an argument that is good. I think the world needs more skeptics.

Anyone else?

2

I second education; I would implement classes on ‘how to think’ - not just critical thinking, but imaginitive/speculative thinking too.

(I realise that ‘how to think’ is pretty much what kids are supposed to come out of school having learned, but I think it deserves a slot of its very own).

3

Proclaim myself supreme dictator. The world will be a better place.

4

Put more land mass in the southern hemisphere.

5

Whoa! steady on- you’ll change the world’s weather- increase the Albedo, and you could plunge us all into an Ice age.
sea=albedo8%
land =albedo20%
so be careful…

6

I think ** look!ninjas** and ** Mangetout** are on the right track. To facilitate the change in teaching children how to think rather than what to think, I would abolish religion.
What? It’s been tried, and it didn’t work? You’d think that more than seventy years of suppression would have done it. Damn!

7

I don’t even know that abolishing religion as such is so important, but blind faith needs to go. Not just blind faith in God, or Buddha, or whomever, but blind faith in everything, from one’s particular political party to those people who really think John Edwards talks to dead people.

8

When they start a road construction project, they must set up lights and work on the project continuously until it’s done.

9

How would I change the world?

A little at a time.

By persuasion, not compulsion.

Just like I am. :slight_smile:

10

I would promulgate a new universal mythology about the afterlife: There IS such a thing as reincarnation. What’s more, a human being can only be reincarnated as a human being. But that’s all you can be sure of. You will spend your next life as a human but you could be ANYBODY – any race, nationality, social class, sex or gender-orientation. Therefore it is in your own best interest to do everything you can to make sure humanity has a future, and to make things in general better for everybody, in a very concrete, material sense.

There is absolutely no reason to believe the universe really is set up this way. But, obviously, this would be a much better world if everybody – ESPECIALLY LEADERS, POLITICIANS, STATESMEN, AND PEOPLE OF WEALTH, RANK, AND/OR PRIVILEGE – believed in it, or acted as if they did believe in it. As “pious frauds” and “useful myths” go, this one is bound to be far more beneficial to the world than those of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other actually existing religion. Buddhism and Hinduism do preach reincarnation, but since it includes the possibility of coming back as a plant, animal, or god, it kind of diffuses any impulse to make things better for humanity. Besides, those religions believe in reincarnation based on karma, or merit, which is a good motivator for good behavior as those religions define it, but also can blind the believer to the real-world effects of his or her behavior as distinct from its supposed spiritual merit. I see no value in a religion which regards meditation and prayer as equally valid paths to merit as charity and social reform.

I would also make it so women would have just as intense and urgent a sex drive as men. (Sigh.)

11

Me personally? I am not so sure I am up to that task. I guess though, in simple terms. Set everyone up with the non-coercion principle and then leave them alone.

12

I would promulgate a new universal mythology about the afterlife: There IS such a thing as reincarnation. What’s more, a human being can only be reincarnated as a human being. But that’s all you can be sure of. You will spend your next life as a human but you could be ANYBODY – any race, nationality, social class, sex or gender-orientation. Therefore it is in your own best interest to do everything you can to make sure humanity has a future, and to make things in general better for everybody, in a very concrete, material sense.

There is absolutely no reason to believe the universe really is set up this way. But, obviously, this would be a much better world if everybody – ESPECIALLY LEADERS, POLITICIANS, STATESMEN, AND PEOPLE OF WEALTH, RANK, AND/OR PRIVILEGE – believed in it, or acted as if they did believe in it. As “pious frauds” and “useful myths” go, this one is bound to be far more beneficial to the world than those of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other actually existing religion.

Buddhism and Hinduism do preach reincarnation of course, but since it includes the possibility of coming back as a plant, animal, or god, it kind of diffuses any impulse to make things better for humanity. For an individual to make the world a little better for humans is a possible and worthy goal; to make it better for all living things or sentient beings is just too overwhelming a task. Besides, Buddhism and Hinduism believe in reincarnation based on karma, or merit, which is a good motivator for good behavior as those religions define it, but also can blind the believer to the real-world effects of his or her behavior, or non-behavior, as distinct from its supposed spiritual merit. I see no value in any religion which regards meditation and prayer as equally valid paths to merit as charity and social reform. As Benjamin Franklin put it (more or less): “There are two ways of serving God: Prayer, and doing good to Man. But of these two, prayer is much easier, and much more popular.”

I would also make it so women would have just as intense and urgent a sex drive as men have now. (Sigh.)

13

ninja, just a small remark: Buddhism isn’t a religion, it’s a philosphy. Buddha isn’t a god, and isn’t seen as a god by Buddhists.
Buddha just happened to be the guy that escaped the endless cycle of rebirth first, and taught others how.
Buddhists do not worship a god. They try and better themselves as human beings, believe in Karma (whatever you do wil come back to you), and believe that people are “doomed” to be reborn until their soul is “perfect”, and they no longer need to be reborn.

just on the side, folks.

14

If we’re assuming Godlike powers here, let’s cut to the chase and start by removing everyone’s ability to perform physical violence on any other human being. You can’t hit, restrain, shoot, launch a missile at, bomb, poison, run over, strangle, stab, drop a piano on, etc. anyone. I guess I’d have to restrict this to intentional actions; I mean, you’d have to be intending to do harm to someone – whether the victim wants it or not. Let’s assume it takes form as an inhibition: you simply cannot perform the act. Say, you can pick up the gun and point, but you can’t pull the trigger. Or, you can fly the plane over the village, put your thumb on the launch button, but you can’t press it. Simply can’t.

For all humanity and for the rest of our stay here on earth. And it goes for everyone, criminals and cops. We’d have to find other ways than violence – and, more importantly, the threat of violence – to solve our problems.

Okay, nice fantasy. A little less Genie-wishy? I would give props to previous posters about teaching children how to think critically and independently, I would deem it equally important to get them to think sympathetically as well, to be adept at putting themselves in other peoples’ shoes. To understand people with different viewpoints, beliefs, and values other than their own, even if they don’t agree. And to be able to hold two opposing viewpoints in their heads simultaneously.

As for establishing new myths, how about this:

Start out with the idea of one soul, no more. Everyone shares it – everyone is this soul. This soul flits about time and space, zigzagging throughout the world and throughout history. I am the soul now, and when I die the soul will be transferred, perhaps randomly, to be born in another place and time; maybe I’ll be born a Mexican female in 1887, or a black male hyperdrive specialist in 2310, or the protohuman who discovers fire in the mists of prehistory, or Elvis, or Hitler, or maybe I’ll be born you, the reader of this post, in whatever country and year you were born. Not maybe: someday I will, or I will already have. It goes without saying that the soul occupies all humans at all times, its timeline crisscrosses, but from its own viewpoint it is one life after the next until it has exhausted the entire lifetimes of every human who ever existed or ever will exist.

So. How do I treat someone else if I know that I may become him or her? However I would want to be treated. Nicely. Kindly. I certainly wouldn’t hurt, cheat or kill myself. Ourselves.

How about that?

So starts my new religion. Please send donations. Give what you can.

15

I Think LOOK!ninjas and brain Glutton are right on track. I would only add things I would like to get rid of:

Telephone sollicitors, Radical Vegetarians, born-again Christians, Islamic fundamentalists, Tofu, Kentucky Fried chicken, Reality tv shows, Bob Novack and Tucker Carlson,Anna Nicole Smith, Gloria Redman,OJ Simpson,child molesters,nazis, gay bashers,Dr Phil,etc[Please everyone feel free to add to the list}

16

I’d set up a giant cooke factory and give everyone in the world a box of their favorite cookies. There would be oatmeal raisin cookies for me, sugar-free cookies for diabetics, vegan cookies for vegans, pureed cookies for babies, etc. Then, for once, everyone in the world would be happy for a few minutes. I’d also provide everyone with dunking milk, and then we could all settle down for a nap.

17

i wish, i wish, for all the bad people in the world to just disappear!
/me disappears

18

I’d provide free state-of-the-art medical health care to everyone in the world.

19

BrainGlutton - I like your post, but the problem is that there can never be just one universal agreement on ANYTHING in the unknown. Heck, we can’t even agree on stuff that has been scientifically proven, let alone what happens to us in the afterlife. I really like your thinking though. One issue is that everyone would be motivated by fear, rather than treating people right because it IS right. Your way is still a Karma based thing - “Don’t be a bigot and treat blacks bad because you might become one in the next life.” It’s the same as most religions which are motivate to be a good person because of punishment and reward, rather than because it’s right. Many Christians do good deeds to avoid hell and get rewarded in heaven. Buddists because of good and bad karma. With your new religion, it would be simply replaced with the fear of treating someone bad because you would become that person.

I haven’t quite perfected my theories on making the world a better place yet, but I’m working on them :slight_smile: BUT here are a couple:

Have a scientist find the part of the brain the manifests greed, anger, hatred and guilt - then re-arrange it so that when they act on those feelings they get violently ill and feel more pain than possibly imaginable.

or

Change the life rules to “whoever has the least amount of money, power and materialistic things in the end…WINS!” And also, batteries should be included.

20

… and watch the population explode.

This sounds awful, bit I’d cut the world’s population back to a billion … maybe 1.5 billion. Imagine a planet where seven billion people are all living at a North American/Western European standard of living? Yes, that includes the consumer goods and automobiles.

Terrible, I know. Don’t know how there can be a planet with seven billion in the middle class, though.