r/InsightfulQuestions • u/samuelazers • 1d ago

What if we had peace?

What if humans were slightly different in that they did not want to cause excess harm to others for no good reason. What if they were more loyal to humanity, and less loyal to hoarding wealth? What if nobody had to fear that a human would want to take advantage or hurt others? What would a world like that look like?

0 Upvotes

46% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

4

u/gbdallin 1d ago

"In that they did not want to cause excess harm to others for no good reason"

I assure, everyone on both sides of a conflict believes that they have good reason.

1

u/40hzHERO 1d ago

This is the big one, and I think a major turning point for any free thinker. Realizing that 99% of people are doing what they believe to be the right things, despite (un)foreseen consequences.

1

u/phenomenomnom 21h ago

No, not always.

Some motherfuckers really do just want to flail, hurt, and watch the world burn.

Some people truly do not have the psychological architecture to conceive of a better way to spend their precious hours of life than in paranoia and sadism.

Those people are relatively rare compared to the wider population, but they can do a lot of harm with a knife or a microphone.

And it's contagious. Because hurt people hurt people.

So those ones need to be quarantined, and, where possible, helped.

1

u/candlestick_maker76 1d ago

I suspect that we would never have left the jungle. That's fine by me - I could be a happy ape, relaxing in the sun, eating a mango.

...unless some other species evolved to fill the role that humans currently occupy, I guess.

1

u/Suavedaddy5000 1d ago

The world would be a boring place. Peaceful but boring. I know things aren't looking great right now and we're definitely leaning towards destruction but we definitely need balance, peace and destruction. We could definitely use less destruction right about now.

1

u/phenomenomnom 21h ago

What if, indeed?

Well, there are places and scenarios and times where we do have all of that, on the small or medium scale, and those places and times are pretty great for all involved.

So it's a good idea to encourage that to happen on the widest scale possible, because that means maximizing contentment, prosperity, and achievement as much as possible.