Thread: Is World Peace Possible?

This was an essay I wrote for a contest. It's about if world peace is actually possible.

Is World Peace Possible?

Everyone asks the question, “Is world peace possible?” Some people think there is a change to achieve world peace. However, with the inevitable of the entire world advancing, is it really possible? With research enhancing, anything is possible to work against the thought of world peace. New things may be created, such as diseases, weapons of mass destruction, chemicals, and much more. Will one country want world domination? Will there still be terrorist attacks against the United States, or any other country, like September 11, 2001? What will happen? Will there ever be world peace?

We woke up on September 11, 2001, as we normally would, thinking it would be an average day of school, work, or a nice day off. However, something unpredictable would happen. Between the times of: 7:58A.M. and 8:10A.M., Eastern Standard Time, everything begins, as four jetliners head for their destinations. At 8:46A.M., the North Tower of the World Trade Center is hit. Soon after that, at 9:03A.M., the South Tower is attacked. 9:45A.M., the Pentagon is hit and soon later, at 10:05, the South Tower collapses. At 10:10A.M., the Pentagon falls, and the fourth plane crashes into a field in Pennsylvania, and finally, the North Tower falls at 10:28A.M. Everyone is in shock and denial, asking who, what, when, where, why, and how. Once we found out what exactly happened, we came to realize that we were no longer safe. We are at war with whomever had done this. Once again, we ask the question, “Where’s the world peace?”

Then it happened all over, or pretty close, when we went to war, with Iraq, because they had weapons of mass destruction, chemicals that could kill us, and bombs. With all of those things, they could cause a nuclear war. Millions and perchance billions would die, just like September 11th. Innocent people would die because of a group of terrorists. Once again there would be no world peace.

In a couple of years, another world war may break out, and one country will offer, ‘world peace,’ and in return, have a world-wide nation, by only having one government, religion, and more. They would want to have it their way… more like a dictatorship. Will there be something that happens, which results in a world-wide nation? Will it be a new beginning of world peace?

When I think about it, there isn’t a possible way to bring about world peace, because there will always be different points of view about everything. People think differently. There is no way, what-so-ever to have world peace in the world we live in today.

This and other topics are discussed in the political thread, feel free to join in and you can change the topic to world peace any time you want. There's no reason multiple topics can't be discussed.

Possible, but not likely

World "piece" of what? "Piece" of pie?

In all seriousness, I believe world peace would be possible if human existence as we know it was controlled by one central power. If we were told what we were to do, and what we were to believe from the time we were born, and if we all happily accepted that, world peace would be possible. Of course we might have to take a little soma from time to time, and we might have to eliminate the occasional rebel, who refused to conform to the expectations we set upon him. But yeah, world peace is definitely possible.

In the mean time, while democracy remains the in-style way to govern a population, achieving world peace will be difficult. Democracy, even communism and dictatorships set the stage for power struggles for like members of our species. The high class want to remain the high class, while the low and middle class want to become high class--that's a constant conflict. Then you have the ocassional Hitler type who figure out how to harness human stupidity for their own gain--it's never a happy ending when that happens. Then you have religion, which gives humans a bunch of ridiculous ideals--guaranteed to result in a war or two.

I'm afraid we won't have world peace until we can stop humans from behaving like humans.

Every animal has a feeling of lordship of the territory that it inhabits, evident from the Lions to the Dogs, and of-course Humans. Humans with their higher levels of self-consciousness, are by far the most possessive animals of all. As long as possessive pronouns exist there can be no peace.

Greggb prescribes soma, in conformance with "Brave New World", which is nothing but putting man's desires, hopes and consciousness to sleep.

At the same time, it is this self-consciousness that has made us what we are. It's the way universe is programmed to be. Our greatness will be our nemeisis. We can't stop being humans because we are humans, we can't stop war because we are the seeds of unrest. It's a paradox, and life is nothing but paradox. All we have to do is learn to chuckle at the "irony of existense".

If you want peace, prepare for war-- A greek saying,( I hope I have quoted it correctly.)

I mentioned this in another posting, but I think one of the underlying themes in "Brave New World" is that world peace is only achieveable by suppressing the "human factor". Huxley might not have done it intentionally, but by setting up a (fairly realistic) utopia, where there is such a thing as world peace, he said, "These are things that need to happen in order to create world peace".

Just my opinion, as always.

World Peace is possible but not probable. In other words, it probably won't happen.

In a perfect world, everybody would have to agree to compromise on everything. Everyone would have to realize that there is not a single person on Earth that knows absolutely everything. Not now, in the past, or ever will exist. Everyone must accept they're own fallibilty and agree to open their minds to new ideas and different patterns of living on a moment to moment basis, without any scwabbling or bickering about changing on a seconds notice, because predicting the outcome of a decision is useless. No one can know what will happen on any given event, in any given place, on any given time. So called experts would not exist because everyone would know that everyone else knows just as much as the next person. Probability is the only prediction anyone can make one way or the other, and the only real truth is reality (in the moment) itself.

As for Utopia.

Utopia is a made up concept of absolute perfection. Like Heaven. Utopia is always a far away place, way out of reach, that no one can seem to attain. It's just a splinter in the mind. Nothing more. Imagine if Utopia was actually a physical city that you could travel to. Once you're there, you're always going to be wanting something better. Utopia always exists somewhere else.

-Soup

World free from violence=No

World free from war=yes but unlikely

Perhaps we should first analyse what causes war. Is it due to wanting to have more than the other, religious intolerance, a diversion, lack of space......the list could go on and on. However if we narrow down the causes, we will be quite shocked to realise that most wars are caused by selfishness and greed. If you minutely analyse the causes of World War 1 and World War 2, you will inevitably come to this conclusion.
It seems therefore that mankind has to change its attitude before the thought of world peace can even be broached. Are we closer now to the brotherhood of man now than say a hundred years ago? I seriously doubt it.
The United States, with all its wealth could alleviate the poverty of many African nations, where having a square meal a day would be a luxury for many; but it fails to do this, citing a host of reasons. Yet it jumped with both feet to 'liberate' Iraq ( after causing extreme misery to its citizens by the protracted sanctions),because this country had a vital resource-oil . Of course it justfied its actions by claiming that oil is needed by everyone in this world, and this this resource cannot be held to ransom by a misguided leader. As we all know, the real reason the United States and its cronies went to war with Iraq was to neutralise the latter's WMD- which till today they are valiantly trying to proof exists. The benefit of the boubt however is still in the US's favor. It might yet find these weapons.
Where the government of the United States has failed miserably to initiate world peace, its people has succeeded admirably. In a recent Oprah show, Oprah persuaded many ladies to give up the money they had planned to use on things like facelifts etc. as donations to starving African nations. The money collected this way was simply phenomenal.
So if we as individuals could initiate something like this, in spite of tremendous odds, there is still a chance for world peace. Even a good thought will go a long way. Before proceeding, let me clarify that I in no way disapprove of the United States going to war against Iraq. At times force must be met with force, and am I glad that the United States is the sole super power in this world and not some other renegade nation.
Scientists tell us that we are currently using only a small fraction of our total brain power. It does not take much thinking however to conclude what will happen if the greenhouse effect takes a good grip on this earth.
The film 'The Day After Tomorrow' though a bit far fetched, has hit the nail on its head.
Someone has mentioned that a single ruler over all the nations of the world woud bring world peace. This is debatable, as absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Many foolishly think that concepts like global warming, pollution, scarcity of water etc. are plain figments of our imagination and are not likely to occur at any time.
In my opinion, world peace should be initiated by the individual, who should firstly purge himself/herself thoroughly from greed and selfishness in order to view the world as a global village. At present the governments of almost all the nations of the world are incapable of doing this. The groundswell must initate from the grassroots.
If we fail, then nature will unleash its mighty weapons against which we are nothing.
In conclusion, I will relate a story from India which is perhaps a few thousand years old. ' There was a bird with two heads and a single body. While it was foraging one day, one of the heads found a worm and started eating it. The other head asked for a share, which the first head refused. In anger and frustration, the second head swallowed some poison, which killed the bird. '

Not as long as humans exist. It's too deeply rooted in human nature.