Is humanity's shared ideal of world peace an impossibility? - General

My personal viewpoint is that it is impossible, if not a goal that we lack the capability to reach due to the way that we are wired. My reasoning goes that because we each all have our own experiences and opinions of the world, there will always be a certain dissonance within any civilization we set up. It is this dissonance which has been known to turn people to crime, and cause wars between entire nations. This is the dissonance behind dishonesty, shaming and distrust. In order for us to achieve that utopian future which is so highly coveted, we would mentally have to be 100% synced with each other in a way which makes any disagreements such as this impossible. And because there are so many environmental factors which determine how a person thinks when they reach adulthood, the whole concept of a utopia seems unlikely to me. Thoughts?

I'm going to be completely pessimistic and say that world peace is indeed an impossibility. I cannot in good faith believe in such a concept, when the things that humanity has done in the past and still does today comes to mind. We're a very violent race and I don't believe that will ever change.

[QUOTE=UntouchedShadow;45886737]I'm going to be completely pessimistic and say that world peace is indeed an impossibility. I cannot in good faith believe in such a concept, when the things that humanity has done in the past and still does today comes to mind. We're a very violent race and I don't believe that will ever change.[/QUOTE] I would argue that it isn't pessimistic, but a realistic evaluation of the case at hand. The views shared by even small groups of people can be polarized; as we are all unique autonomous intelligent entities with varied experiences. Fundamentally, world peace requires absolute equality, and that can't happen whilst ever people can be born with efficiencies/deficits in a biological sense (winning/losing the genetic lotto).

It's not impossible, but it's extremely unlikely, to the point where it might as well be impossible. And honestly, I wouldn't want to live in a world like that anyway. It would be boring as fuck.

[QUOTE=elowin;45887356]It's not impossible, but it's extremely unlikely, to the point where it might as well be impossible. And honestly, I wouldn't want to live in a world like that anyway. It would be boring as fuck.[/QUOTE] That's an incredibly ignorant viewpoint. Just because there isn't constant war, does not mean it would be "boring". Seeing your family gunned down is not "exciting", the mass murder of millions is not "fun". Nobody should be getting any excitement from war, there are much better things to get excitement from, like art, sports, relationships, everything except killing. A world of peace would be far more entertaining than a world of constant war. As for the question, I cannot in good faith say that it's possible while there are still national identities founded largely on hate. ISIS is a good example of this.

[QUOTE=Funktastic Dog;45887617]That's an incredibly ignorant viewpoint. Just because there isn't constant war, does not mean it would be "boring". Seeing your family gunned down is not "exciting", the mass murder of millions is not "fun". Nobody should be getting any excitement from war, there are much better things to get excitement from, like art, sports, relationships, everything except killing. A world of peace would be far more entertaining than a world of constant war. As for the question, I cannot in good faith say that it's possible while there are still national identities founded largely on hate. ISIS is a good example of this.[/QUOTE] I think what elowin said was poorly formulated. But i kinda subscribe to something similar, Or rather i see how i might. Because what if the very essence of us, some deep rooted compulsion that causes all these territorial and ideological conflicts, might also be what spurs us to expand and create. In a sentence, lets not pry too much at our flaws lest we loose our soul. I dont think life is supposed to be have an easy, set-goal, your purpose is to balance your way through it, since thats the hardest thing to do.

As has already been said, I don't believe in world peace. Why? Because fighting each other is literally our very nature. Since the dawn of humanity we've been fighting. Once it was small skirmishes over hunting territory. Now fighting is caused by clashing ideologies and cultures. Even if we somehow manage to create absolute peace between each and every nation on Earth, that doesn't count the many rebels, separatists, insurgents and ultranationalist that would continue to exist. As much as I'd love to see our world in peace, it just isn't possible. And perhaps in a twisted sense, the way our world is build now has been shaped be centuries of warfare. I mean hell, computers were practically created by the military.

[QUOTE=Dancingonpie;45886482]My personal viewpoint is that it is impossible, if not a goal that we lack the capability to reach due to the way that we are wired. My reasoning goes that because we each all have our own experiences and opinions of the world, there will always be a certain dissonance within any civilization we set up. It is this dissonance which has been known to turn people to crime, and cause wars between entire nations. This is the dissonance behind dishonesty, shaming and distrust. In order for us to achieve that utopian future which is so highly coveted, we would mentally have to be 100% synced with each other in a way which makes any disagreements such as this impossible. And because there are so many environmental factors which determine how a person thinks when they reach adulthood, the whole concept of a utopia seems unlikely to me. Thoughts?[/QUOTE] No matter what gets set up or changed there will always be one person who does not like what is happening, we all have advanced enough brains to decide what is best for ourselves on our own. World peace would require the same method of thinking by the entire population. And for the record, forcimg people to maintain peace isnt true peace.

[QUOTE=Itolkweed;45909014]No matter what gets set up or changed there will always be one person who does not like what is happening, we all have advanced enough brains to decide what is best for ourselves on our own. World peace would require the same method of thinking by the entire population. And for the record, forcimg people to maintain peace isnt true peace.[/QUOTE] Heh, you got me all wrong. I'm not promoting that method of attaining peace at all. The reason I outlined it in that way was because I would harshly disagree with such a method. I 100% agree with you on this one. And as Elowin said above, nothing about a world where everyone is forced to stay in line would be appealing. It would be more like a dictatorship, reguardless of the peaceful intent. [editline]Hang on[/editline] Just as an afterthought; Should personal freedom really always be valued over the greater good? I'm sure there would be some exceptions.

[QUOTE=Dancingonpie;45919340]Just as an afterthought; Should personal freedom really always be valued over the greater good? I'm sure there would be some exceptions.[/QUOTE] To clarify, do you mean greater physical safety when you refer to "greater good?" I ask because many people would say that personal freedom is, in itself, the greater good.

[QUOTE=Dancingonpie;45919340]Heh, you got me all wrong. I'm not promoting that method of attaining peace at all. The reason I outlined it in that way was because I would harshly disagree with such a method. I 100% agree with you on this one. And as Elowin said above, nothing about a world where everyone is forced to stay in line would be appealing. It would be more like a dictatorship, reguardless of the peaceful intent. [editline]Hang on[/editline] Just as an afterthought; Should personal freedom really always be valued over the greater good? I'm sure there would be some exceptions.[/QUOTE] Personal freedom, and the greater good. Of course there are exceptions, there usually always are, in most scenarios. But i think the greater good outweighs personal freedom. Like, if my acting on my personal freedom affects the greater good, then my freedom should be limited. The greater good i hold higher because that would be the sum of everyones personal freedom being used in a positive manner

We're a violent and fragmented race of creatures with varying opinions on "how things should be" and this is unlikely to change, given the problems that even small disagreements concerning politics, culture or religion have proven to cause across our history. Thinking wildly, the closest we're likely to get to peace would be a common enemy to fight against (I'm hoping that this means Jaegers).

[QUOTE=thejjokerr;45923214]I think world peace would be very possible if we segregate all people with different opinions each in their own country and make sure those countries are completely self sufficient. Everyone with the same ideals in the same country, everyone happy with the people around them.[/QUOTE] and then they all come onto the facepunch mass debate section and argue about their views :v: on topic, i don't think it's possible, i had this debate with a girl in my class who thinks we can just abolish all military and end war, it's just impossible to convince the billions of people on this planet not to fight each other, it's basically in our nature, even if cultures have changed to try and reduce it

it's possible in the sense that there will one day being a single world government, but a strong military force will always be needed to maintain order. There will always be rebellions and attempted successions, especially when (or rather if) humanity starts amassing an interstellar empire in the far future, there needs to be threat of force to keep people under control of the government

The only way for world peace is to systematically destroy all opposing viewpoints, to destroy all material relating to viewpoints. The children will have to be raised and monitored from the womb. All countries would need to form into one, all illness will need to be destroyed. Even then, world peace is a stretch.