How to fix the world

[_EX]

So I was recently watching this video
[video=youtube;WibmcsEGLKo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibmcsEGLKo[/video]

I really like it, not because of its moving music or for its emotive clips, but for the way I agree with everything in it. I think it really is one of the greatest speeches I have ever heard and I wish it wouldnt remain just a 'nice video'. I, as most of you, would love to see a world invisioned in this speech, without the greed of some men leading to the fall of others.

Now, I understand that the world can never be perfect, not all wars can be avoided. There will be some people who fight out of otherwise positve emotions, like love for a god (I know I always bring up religion but I am not saying anything about it other than this. i think it is a valid point to make also). I think greed, in small doses, can help.
Doctors wouldnt be motivated to go through long years of hard study if they werent going to be rewarded with the money but extreme greed, at the expense of others, is wrong.

A part of this speech made me think about the hypocrisy that I have when imagine a 'perfect' world. How can one wish to abolish intolerance, without being intolerant?
How can one blame the world's state on greed, when greed is so vital to the world that we want? I honestly cant find an answer in myself so I have come to you guys for a little talk.
What do you all think about this? How can we fix the world, or at least get it to a state where most of us will be satisfied? Given all the resources you need, do you think a world like what Charlie Chaplin talks about ever possible?
Is it just a pipe dream to even consider it?

Note: I know the 'perfect world' idea is relative and never attainable but I dont think I am talking about your personal world, but a perfect-esque world for everyone.

Tl;DR
Is the world ever 'fixable', given unlimited time and unlimited resources. Is it sane to actually think the world can be fixed?

 

[Taylor]

The downfalls of humanity are part of what makes us human. I don't think you can "fix" the world. You can't artificially MAKE everyone peaceful and loving and respectful. There are so many factors that go into it all that it's basically impossible to make people free of hate or greed or whatever unless you remove emotions entirely.

And if you do that, then you lose love and respect at the cost of peace. If you want humans to react as human beings, you have to take the bad with the good. The hope is that the good guys always beat the bad guys, and that the world can slowly take small steps forward to being a more dignified and peaceful place.

 

[_EX]

But if one person can live as a good person, say Gandhi, surely the rest of us are capable of it too.

Sure, humans have flaws but I like to think that it wasnt an uncontrollable flaw in humanity that lead to the atom bomb or serial killers.
Dont you think that, through better education systems or something of the sort, humaity can be lead in the right direction.

I know that humanity cannot and will not change over night, we are rooted in our ways and old habits will always die hard but, through however many generations of structural changes to society, can we not rise above our flaws and become more?

Thousands of years ago, humans probable would've thought that neighbouring nations would never become as close as family. Humans wouldve been naturally and habitually nationalist, xenophobic and selfish beings. Now look at us, we have become a globalised race with strong bonds between countless unique cultures. We have changed since then, is it too hard to change now?

 

[IceBlueWings]

But if one person can live as a good person, say Gandhi, surely the rest of us are capable of it too.

Gandhi preached peace and love among the people, but even he led to the death of countless of lives in India. When he led the peaceful protest against the unjust implementation of the salt tax by the British, many people died. He even said that it must be expected that many lives would be lost in order to change a situation (I read this in an article that my lecturer gave for my studies just a few days ago). And I'm sure he had (or has) some haters.

Sure, humans have flaws but I like to think that it wasnt an uncontrollable flaw in humanity that lead to the atom bomb or serial killers.
Dont you think that, through better education systems or something of the sort, humaity can be lead in the right direction.

I know that humanity cannot and will not change over night, we are rooted in our ways and old habits will always die hard but, through however many generations of structural changes to society, can we not rise above our flaws and become more?

Thousands of years ago, humans probable would've thought that neighbouring nations would never become as close as family. Humans wouldve been naturally and habitually nationalist, xenophobic and selfish beings. Now look at us, we have become a globalised race with strong bonds between countless unique cultures. We have changed since then, is it too hard to change now?

Even with globalization and current strong bonds between nations and a variety of cultures living together, there are still the marginalized and the ones treated unjustly, for example refugees/asylum seekers. There are tighter restrictions in immigration than way back in the past, and it's even harder for refugees and asylum seekers to find a safe place in the world. There are internal conflicts that countries haven't successfully solved, which is one of the reasons why we have asylum seekers, coming into our countries and trying to find better opportunities, except we aren't quite giving them that either. It's a complicated and difficult thing to think about what's good and bad for us and them.

Race and religion is still an issue in many countries. On one hand we have our identities as being a certain race from a certain country but on the other hand, this is what segregates us. It might be important (as it is our identity) to think about race and ethnicity, but do we really need to? We say it is to preserve our national identity and culture (among other things), and in those efforts try to restrict foreigners who enter our countries.

Our countries may not really be 'close family' either. We could very well just be friendly with each other because of political and economic gain. Not that we don't have genuine friends from different parts of the world (on a personal level), but there would always be someone we disagree with and dislike, and even people we cannot tolerate. Some of us could just turn the other cheek, but others cannot.

It's idealistic to say we would be able to 'fix' the world and live in complete harmony. I think it's inevitable (as much as I would want us to live peacefully as well) that we'll always somehow be in conflict, we'll always be competitive, and we would always have unlimited resources, and we're always never satisfied.

We always seek what benefits us, but there is inevitably the other side. Like opportunity cost in economics. We're always going to leave one group dissatisfied and upset at the cost of making the majority satisfied.

I think we can make small, meaningful changes that would at least open ourselves slightly to become more accepting of each other. We need to keep learning.

(I don't know if I answered your question properly. :/)

 

[_EX]

I agree with what you said but that isnt really what I was talking about.

I said all that to show the progress we made from a less cival state into our more civil world. Instead of killing neighboring nations, we can come together.
If we can make that jump, cant we make the jump to a world where a lot of the problems before (like religious problems) are a thing of the past.

I completely agree with everyone who says that, given the way things are going, the world can never been 'fixed'.
I want to know, even given unlimited resources and things we do not have (more efficient education, altered society where greed isnt so easy and profitable), can the world ever be fixed.

I am talking about a complete, societal restructure. I know it is hard to imagine it, given our modern context which we use as a base for our opinions.

When I heard "Let us fight for a new world! A decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security"
To me, who studied economics in highschool, I thought that was a ridiculous dream, a pipe dream.

Those things cant happen in our society. For example, there is always going to be a percentage of unemployed, even in ideal economies, to push up the value of workers to meet the demand for work (some shit like that. It was a while ago. I just know that not everyone can have jobs).
Then, I thought "Why cant we have this". Sure, it violates the accepted norms of the economy to give everyone what they need in life, to give everyone a secure future for example, but fuck the economy. If we could rebuild the economy around new ways to look at things, not as a 'dog eat dog world' maybe, cant it all be achieved?
It isnt impossible to feed every human on earth.
It isnt impossible to educate all children on earth.
It isnt impossible for everyone to be treated as equal.

If we can educate the world's outlook on life, couldnt we rebuild the world with a focus on mankind in general?

We often forget that society as it is now has just slowly evolved from all those years ago when their values were different and things like the economy reflected that.


I dont need to know that it will happen. I just want to know if you think it can happen.

Sorry. I dont really know what I am going on about. It makes sense in my head but not when I write it. Its a big topic, possible too big.