What is the most critical global issue that humans face?

[Tekime]

Sup.

What do you think is the most important global issue that humans face?

This question has a lot of potential for hair-splitting and molestation of all types, so let me try to keep it simple and put it like this. If you had fifty billion dollars to put toward any one single cause, e.g. the research and development of a cure for cancer, curing world hunger, etc., and you could only spend the money on that ONE thing.... what would it be?

[Yayhon]

I guess free quality education available to every human. That would solve a whole lot of problems secondarily.

[Technophile]

For every solution there's a problem. Everything is important, or unimportant, depending on how you want to look at. But if I had to choose just one thing to throw 50 billion at, I'd try to give everyone a good education as well. But I wouldn't teach people facts, I'd teach them how to think. Not because it would make the world a better place, because ultimately some other shit would go wrong, but because people who don't think really piss me off.

[Cyd]

Free quality education for all is a good answer, but for me, I'd really like to eliminate all traces of unpopped popcorn.


Seriously though, I'd take all that cash and put it towards the study and production of the world's first time machine and,... what...hey fuk you, the education answer was already taken.:P

[jaysaul]

1)The most important issue facing humans is the rise of fundamentalism combined with the proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons.

2)The most important issue facing this planet is the rise of the machine builders and their issolation from the rest of life on earth.

I think problem 2 may be solved by problem 1.

[freshtokyo]

How about how we're treating the planet we're on? (and of course, I second the "rise of the machines")

[evilmonkeypower]

I dont think that education would really solve the problem. there are lots of very well educated people out there that do very bad things with their education. thinking education is the key is sort of assuming that when people make bad decisions or commit horrid acts they are just uninformed or uneduated and therefore dont make the right decisions. (at least this is they way it seems to me) actually in Plato's Republic he talks about knowledge leading you to the "good" and helping you to make the right choices. however in Aristotle's Ethics he criticizes this kind of thinking and I agree with Aristotle. its not education that will solve the world's problems...although it would go a very long way in helping to make better people for the most part.

[Yayhon]

I wouldn't say it would solve everything, or create a utopia, but there a lot of things that educated people are significantly less likely to do, like have tons of unprotected sex and make a million aids babies. Plus it would be a positive thing to do, if you had the resources to spend on one thing, I think it would be much more effective in the long term to try and create something good than to stop something bad.

[evilmonkeypower]

well said

[jaysaul]

The fact is the world's population is being educated better than ever before. The Indians (from India) and the Chinese are educating their billions of citizens better than we are educating our children.

If a nuclear bomb goes off in NYC or Chicago and the trains stop running and the Safeway trucks stop running--going to school will be the least of our problems. Knowing how to navigate the web and fix a computer may be the least valuable skills in a post nuclear world.