Is world peace possible?

[habilis]

Originally posted by BoneFill
Oh, sure there have been a lot of people thru history trying to create ONE big common nation, religion, value system... the ones that i remember right now are Hitler, Romans, Genghis Khan, some others ... and oh yeah, right George W. Bush....

It's true. Agression and war often comes the guise of peace. At this moment however, I don't think GW is of this kind of totalitarian thinking. Give America 2 or 3 more 9/11's and we might be. Cut the guy a little slack, I don't envy having his job right now; he inherited the post dot-com crash economy and the incredible responsibilty of trying to keep us safe.

Originally posted by toast
In my own humble opinion, I do not think world peace can be achieved...

If we know we can't fly, should man run around flapping his arms trying? - just a devil's advocate comment really.

[fryke]

A limited form of world peace? Please... Either yes or no. :P

And: When talking about evolution, never forget that evolution needs time. 'Survival of the fittest' does not necessarily mean that the one with the hammer kills the one without a hammer. Don't try and be egocentric with evolution.

Evolution is at work. Constantly. But it takes centuries or millennia to 'naturally' erase or change a race...

World peace is possible and will come. The short version: Someone starts erasing mankind. The long version: Too many people will get fed up with war.

habilis: "I don't think GW is of this kind of totalitarian thinking. Give America 2 or 3 more 9/11's and we might be."

You mean that the US don't learn? I mean, not at all? 9/11 should have shown that the totalitarian thinking is wrong and that the US should behave a bit better in the world. The reaction? The US go to war. The reaction? More 9/11s, probably. Sure that's not a way to world peace...

[binaryDigit]

Of course world peace is possible....

Once the US is done taking over most of it

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[fryke]

That's an interesting concept, you have there. Take the root of all evil and put it on top of everything else. Kind of like Satanism, in a way.

Sorry, couldn't resist, either.

[habilis]

Originally posted by fryke
9/11 should have shown that the totalitarian thinking is wrong and that the US should behave a bit better in the world.

So would you like it it we didn't build any more big scary buildings and tore down the existing ones because somebody, somwhere, in some extremist religious state found them offensive??? Would you like it if we put up a memorial to the terrorists at ground zero for teaching us a lesson?

Lets all just have some cake and relax. I really didn't want this thread to concentrate too much on current events or to degenerate into mudslinging, but apparently, all roads lead to Baghdad.

[ksv]

Wow, this must be the first constructive political discussion I've seen in a long time. It seems like we all agree on what to archive - but there are so many different opinions on how it should be done. What we actually see is the world becoming more and more free, more anarchistic actually. And at the same time more peaceful.

[toast]

Originally posted by habilis
If we know we can't fly, should man run around flapping his arms trying? - just a devil's advocate comment really.

It's a good comment indeed. Many theoricians (realists, anti-marxists) have based their approach on the same remark you pointed out: why follow objective x if objective x is unreachable ?

That's also why I prefer to talk of world order rather than world peace.

I agree with you, ksv, that's a good thread that has been started here. It builds itself on the still hot ashes of the "GW Bush hero" thread, which also is a good thing. I hope I'll have the time to develop some points, but I'm going to have much work in the upcoming weeks - I just had very good news from my institute

[Ugg]

Good thread!

Hmm, my gut reaction is that no, the world can never experience peace but, who knows?

World population is expected to level out sometime this century. This continual pressure on the limited resources of the planet and their inequal distribution has been a major factor in world conflict. I think that once the population levels out things will begin to change.

What happens when that population pressure eases? Nobody really knows the answer but one would think that there would be less conflict.

Personally I think that peace is something we all must strive towards. During the 20th century we've seen only too well the devastation that the lack of peace causes.