Harry Guerrilla
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- Dec 18, 2008
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Economic freedom is more important because most/all those other things will follow.
But the reason corrupt governments even worry about stealing water/food is because it's in such short supply. In this country, it doesn't even cross our minds that the government would steal our drinking water, because water is so abundant it's virtually free, so there wouldn't be any need to steal it.
Just like with democracy, I think the causal link between water and stability is far stronger in the opposite direction. Lack of clean water is frequently a CAUSE of conflict, whereas conflict itself is rarely the primary cause of lack of clean water (although it can certainly exacerbate the problem). IMO, providing people with clean water is the most important because it addresses the root cause of many of the other things: For example, 50% of the global disease burden is caused by lack of clean water; poverty and lack of education are often caused by people having to spend the majority of their day gathering water from miles away; conflicts are often fueled by water shortages (e.g. Israel/Palestine, Sudan/Chad, Somalia, Pakistan), etc.
I would say teaching self reliance and sharing mutual love & respect with others.What, in your opinion, is the biggest problem facing humanity? Suppose that you had one wish, which you had to use altruistically to make the world a better place. Which do you think would do the most "good" (however you want to define that), and why?
- Providing everyone in the world with access to clean water
- Providing everyone in the world with enough nutritious food
- Providing everyone in the world with free, high-quality K-12 education
- Providing everyone in the world with access to Western-quality health care
- Providing everyone in the world with access to information and communication (e.g. the internet)
- Bringing peace, stability, and safety to every part of the world
- Bringing democracy and freedom to every part of the world
- Developing a 100% clean, very cheap source of energy that could be produced and distributed anywhere in the world
- Developing an effective, efficient transportation infrastructure in all parts of the world
- Other
If the decision is to ramp up production, that can have the affect of increasing procreation as well.
We should get whats inside our own borders in order before we fantasize about how we could help the world.
Indeed, this is true.I disagree. Some of the lowest birth rates in the world occur in wealthy societies which have everything they need in terms of material wealth. And the highest birth rates typically occur in societies in abject poverty.
I question if we really know how to help the rest of the world....much less ourselves.
IMO, the first step ...at all times..,.tell the truth...
Yes ! The clean water is obvious , but there are steps before that...The Romans developed water systems thousands of year ago...why ?
No matter what you can not let Hussein Obama cut our military funding any more then he has..........We have to maintain a strong military as a deterrent.............It is to the bare bone already........
The biggest problem facing humanity is that Capitalism, as presently practiced, has reached the end of its age. An economic system that is essentially based upon scarcity has been usurped by the very child it has sired, namely mass production, which has now matured into the phenomenon of Superabundance.
Superabundance is the antithesis of scarcity. Therefore, it has become necessary to artificially maintain scarcity, particularly of that most essential of all commodities: energy, just to keep the present system from crashing. We are reminded of the Catholic Church in the age of Galileo, deliberately stifling the advancement of science once it began to challenge the established social paradigm of that age. However, there was no such thing as nuclear weapons in Galileo's day, and there does not appear to be any viable socioeconomic system on the horizon into which our present system can comfortably morph.
My vote would go to the same problem that has been our major problem throughout the entirety of our existence, both as individuals and as species. There is a question at the center of the human soul. Ultimately, that question cannot be articulated, though it is reflected in many of the "big" questions that we can ask. I think it is most clearly reflected in the question "Who or what are we?" Finding the answer to that question is our greatest problem, and the foundation of practically all our other problems.
I disagree. I think that peace, stability, democracy, freedom, etc are the RESULT of having the material items, rather than the cause of them. Granted, having stability and freedom makes it a lot easier to produce the other items...but I think the causal link is much stronger in the opposite direction. There are far more unstable/unfree societies that can nevertheless provide people with a minimal standard of living, than there are societies in dire poverty which are nevertheless able to maintain stability and freedom (India and Ghana are the only two that come to mind).
I think that's why when we ask questions like "How can we achieve peace in Country X?", at the root level it always comes down to something like a lack of education, lack of communication, or a resource struggle. Instability and authoritarianism are largely problems of poverty, and eliminating the root sources of poverty is usually the best way to promote lasting peace and democracy. To put it succinctly, I think that getting people access to water will eliminate conflict, more than eliminating conflict will get people access to water.
Personally I think water, food, and energy are the most important items on my list, because they provide the building blocks from which the others can form. Whereas getting an education is difficult/ineffective without water and food, getting water and food are still worthwhile even without an education. So I think they are the most important. Ultimately, I think clean water is a bit more important than food, for the simple reason that 50% of the global disease burden is caused by unclean water consumption.
"peace and stability to every part of the world" .... but it is an utter pipe dream, and not really worth a vote.
collapsing birth rates in the first world.