It would actually be ridiculously easy to make a much better world for everyone--easy in the sense that there's nothing about physical reality that precludes it; virtually impossible in the sense that we'll never get all humans to cooperate.  I spend a lot of time thinking about how much violence and suffering there is in this world, and it leaves me feeling sad and bewildered.  I find it rather astonishing how easy it would really be to fix everything, if only people would listen.  If you break everything in the world down by difficulty, you have things that are objectively difficult no matter how you slice it, and then you have things that are physically easy, but made difficult because of a lack of understanding.  An example of the former would be the large hadron collider: a monumental undertaking that required extremely advanced technology and unimaginable amounts of resources an humanpower--an objectively difficult task.  The latter are things that really shouldn't be difficult, but are made so because of a failure to listen to reason.  The latter could also be described as a war of ideas.

You want to know how to make a better world for everyone?  It's really easy and really simple.  You ready for it?

Just stop hurting each other.  That's it.

Well, let's also extend this to property.  Don't steal or vandalize others' property.  Basically, just keep your hands to yourself.  That's all there is to it.  Would this end every problem in the world?  Hell no, but it would be a utopia compared to what we have now.  We'd still have economic inequality, starvation, poverty, disease, natural disasters, accidents, as well as disagreements, hatred, bigotry, etc.  But just imagine how good life could be if everyone in the world just kept their hands to themselves.  Just imagine a world where people don't kill each other.  You can disagree with people.  That's fine.  You can say anything you want; you can voice any opinion.  That's fine.  You can insult people; you can tell them exactly what you think of them.  That's fine.  It's not nice, but it's allowed.  You can even hate people; you can hate whatever and whoever you want.  That's fine.  After all, we can't control what we like and dislike.  You can hate someone for how they were born, or how they dress, or how they walk, or for how they looked at you.  That's fine.  It's not nice or ideal, but it's allowed.  No one can control or dictate how you think or feel.  You can hate all you like, and you can tell people you hate them.  You can even tell people you don't think they deserve to live.  You can't threaten them, but you can give any opinion, no matter how vile.  That's fine.  You just can't hurt them physically or take their stuff.  You just have to keep your hands to yourself.  It's that easy.

Let's do a little thought experiment.  Imagine....really imagine....what such a world would be like.  Imagine a world where no matter what anyone says or does, you know that no one is going to physically damage you....on purpose at any rate.  We'd still have accidents.  Can't help that.  And that includes animal attack.  Wild at any rate.  Can't help that.  But imagine what it would be like if you knew, absolutely knew, that no one is going to hurt you.  Imagine being able to go anywhere, anywhere in the whole world, anytime, and know that you'll be safe.  Imagine knowing that you could wake up every day, go out with your head held high, be exactly who you are, and no one one will hurt you.  The most they'll do is insult you--say hurtful things.  And words do hurt, no doubt, but it's not the same as physical danger.  Imagine knowing that no matter who you are, what you look like, what you do, where you go, who you talk to...no one will hurt you.  You could be an open lesbian in Syria and dress like Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII.  No problem.  You could walk down the darkest alley of the darkest city on the darkest night.  No problem.  5-foot, 90 lb woman who works nights and has to walk to her car in a dark, empty parking lot?  No problem.  No need for pepper spray or self-defense classes.  No need to own a gun unless you want to go target shooting.  No bombings.  No shootings.  No rape.  No murder.  No arson.  No theft.  These words wouldn't need to exist outside of fiction.  And there'd certainly be no wars.  No nukes.  No Kim Jong F*ck and his rockets.  No threat of being blown up.  There'd still be problems, and life would still carry risk.  You could trip and fall, you could get sick, your house could accidentally burn down....but no one is going to intentionally hurt you, or take your stuff.  Just imagine a world where everyone keeps their hands to themselves.  Really imagine it.  Close your eyes and think about it.  Open your eyes when your done.  Go ahead--do it now.

Eyes open again?  Well, guess what, that sort of world could exist...or at least it should exist.  It would be so stupidly easy to have that.  All we have to do is just stop hurting each other.  Do whatever the f*ck you want as long as you're keeping your hands to yourself.  I mean, there's a little more to it than that, obviously.  Don't infringe on the rights of others; that's the more accurate way to put it.  But basically, just keep your hands to yourself.  Just...don't....hurt each other.  So easy.  Doing this requires no resources, no technology, no money, no expenditure of energy.  It requires nothing.  It's actually easier than hurting each other.  It's the path of lesser resistance.  It's, like, the lazier approach--doing nothing instead of doing something.  E.g. grabbing that woman in the alley and raping and beating her requires a greater expenditure of energy than not doing it.  I don't know why this has to be made so difficult.  I don't know why human existence has been a battle against violence since the dawn of our species.  Well, that's not exactly true; I actually do know why.  I understand that we're a violent, tribal species by nature.  I guess I just don't really understand why that is.  I guess it served us well in the wilds of the Serengeti.  Our subsequent existence has been an excruciating battle to overcome that nature.  It's the Default Position.  That's another blog post of mine.  You can read that one if you're interested.

Ending violence could be so easy, but of course it's not easy, and it never will be, because we're just apes trying to figure sh*t out, and by the time people are old and wise, they're dead, and each new generation has to learn and figure sh*t out all over again.  And of course, it's never as simple as I make it out to be.  Many, if not most, of the people who commit violent acts are mentally unstable and basically can't help it.  I like to think that everyone in the world could just make a collective decision to stop hurting each other, but I know that's not possible.  But it could get a lot better, and the only way I know to get there is just more conversation, which is why I write things like this.