Human nature and World Peace.

EnigmasWhisper

Can world peace truly be attained?

I suggest it is human nature to form strong beliefs and alliances and to be territorial. This is not necessarily incompatible with world peace as long as wars and terrorism are made impossible.

Wars and terrorism will only be impossible if there is a worldwide
ban on the production, or a total control of, weapons and arms. However, even if all national governments agreed to give up arms to some central control, or there was a global government with the power to command this, man still has the intelligence and ability to make weapons.

There may be no wars if nations were to abide by international peace charters, or if they were all committed to one global government, but this would not rule out terrorism and terrorism tends to lead to war.

A global aspiration or commitment is difficult to envisage. Ideally, we could all commit to environmental conservation at this time, but man is too selfish. This selfishness is, though, part and parcel of our ability to form close connections in a beneficial sense, since it gives rise to commitments to communities. We care most for those with whom we live in close contact.

I believe that since mankind doesn't have a universal attitude which can bring unity between persons, war and terrorism seem inevitable.

Religious commitment is one cause for strife, and although atheism is now an option, it doesn't follow that religious zeal, where it exists, is lessened. Indeed, it is probably strengthened.

Even if there were no territorial claims based upon geographical and religious alliances, there would still be individuals who strive for power and wealth who will make claims against which others rebel.

So, really, as depressing as this may seem, I think there is no hope for peace for mankind. Of course, it might be wondered whether mankind might change. If we were inclined to be peaceful we would be a strange passive, tolerant sort of being with no strong beliefs and no religious attachments.

Whats your oppinion, do you think world peace can be truly attained?

Zukustious

If you kill everyone who disagrees with you and your views, is world peace than attained? There is no one left to fight with so there is world peace. Does it count though? Are you talking about world peace through talks or can you count elimination of enemies. If you can count that than world peace can be attained but other than that I doubt it. Humans are just too different and racist and stuff. Naturally we both crave and fear the unknown. The solution? People try to control the unknown, so there is barely anything to fear. Because of this, world peace cannot be attained at the current evolutionary stage of humans but there is still hope for the future levels of more evolved humans.

Kell

I think it is possible to achieve but as a race we need to stop thinking in the personal sense and think in a global sense. In order to be generally accpeted the thrust of iglobal thinking must come from the powers that be. We all know, however, that governments are completely self obsessed and only interested in their own personal gain, so it will take time.

Society nurtures the me, me, me attitude as well. I am beginning to detest sitting in watching TV for the plethora of ad's flung at you every five minutes with a host of tv stars telling you how great your hair will look if you use x brand of shampoo. Adverts should be boring. This is the product, this is what it does, goodbye. Until there is really strict control over the messages that get beamed into peoples houses I dont feel that there will be massive leaps made in the global awareness stakes.

azezil

As long as someone has something that another does not there will be inequality, inequality breeds envy, envy breeds hate, hate leads to violence.

Many people down through the years has sought to set up communities where everyone is equal, work is done by all and everything is held in commune. This communities are often successful for a time, but a combination of envy from those outside, unrealistic goals, strict rules and regulations, mistrust and lack of understanding inevitably leads to their downfall.

For world peace we need global unity, how this is achieve will most likely determine if such a peace can last.

bonkey

If you have a society where there is no violence, then someone who introduces violence will have an advantage unless there is a mechanism in place to completely remove those advantages.

In other words...until we develop some method (psychic, electronic, whatever) which removes the capability of violence or the will for it, then there will always be an advantage to be gained through its use in certain situations and enough people who wish to take those advantages.

Sure, a a species we may become less violent, but no[/] violence? Aint gonna happen...not with any species we recognise as human.

jc