# 1 Goal For Humankind

[Wyrd of Gawd]

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As an atheist i get asked all the time what my goals are. What i think human kind should thrive for.. Mostly sarcastically by douche bag religious people with a chip on their shoulder but it's still a question none the less.

My answer to what i think human kind should thrive for? Well.. I think our number one goal as HUMANS (not republicans.. liberals.. democrats.. etc) should be to explore space. Looking at pictures and really seeing the scope of the universe and whats out there is astonishing. We look at these things as if it's impossible.. but i think if we had some sort of global program. That anyone could join and work for, all working towards the goal of cryogenics, understanding space and how to move through it, and also building these machines and such. I think it would give a ton of people a new found purpose in life.. They would be fed, housed and free to leave when they wanted. I know i for one would sign up.

Who knows what is out there? whole civilizations.. different forms of energy.. plus we would have a plan B when earth is used up. I guess in my mind i only have so long on this planet.. I want things to evolve so i can actually see these things! I hate waiting around for everyone else to get on board. I understand that some people are content with just living their everyday lives as same as the day before.. but im not. Im sorry i don't think a .00000002" thinner phone is important. Once upon a time we thought traveling faster than the speed of sound was impossible yet.. here we are. Imagine if we had everyone working on a global project.. all working towards the same goal.. I don't think anything would or could stand in our way.. except maybe an asteroid.. or a black hole.. but you know what i mean.

So i know i may sound crazy but thats truly my thoughts on things. My question for you guys is the same..

What should humankind's number 1 goal be?

I posted this in the Atheist thread because i want to know what fellow atheists think.. I already know what religious peoples answer would be therefore i don't care about their answer.

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I think it should be to increase pleasure among humanity.

This would probably be achieved by higher technology, more education less over population, war and crime.

The advantage of having a large population is that you end up with more really intelligent people. Countries that have small populations rarely produce any geniuses.

The reason there's so much crime in America is that every conceivable act known to man is illegal somewhere.

[KUSA]

There needs to be three teams working on three different things.
1- Unlocking the secret to immortality. This includes stopping aging, cloning yourself so if you are killed or your body is damaged your last mental backup can be transferred to the clone.
2- Developing faster than light travel so all these immortal people will have somewhere to live. We could populate the galaxy.
3- Developing an endless energy source that costs nothing to maintain.

[Mr Brightside]

Probably the only way we'd be able to move from this planet to another hospitable one is reproducing on the way. Basically make it so our decedents will eventually reach New Earth, as the people who originally embarked will have died long before.

Very interesting.. kind of like a Wall-e type thing.. makes sense.

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Strive for equality and understanding? In a way, work towards world peace, but unfortunately many religious people are very afraid of world peace, because that's all antichrist/end times stuff. Still, equality and a better understanding of ourselves and our world should be the number 1 priority.

If all of humanity was equal would it really make things better or would it make things a lot worse? It might be worthwhile to strive for equality but it could be a disaster if it was ever reached.

Even in the end if equality is achieved.. hate will never die. Someone will always find something to hate.. sad but true

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There needs to be three teams working on three different things.
1- Unlocking the secret to immortality. This includes stopping aging, cloning yourself so if you are killed or your body is damaged your last mental backup can be transferred to the clone.
2- Developing faster than light travel so all these immortal people will have somewhere to live. We could populate the galaxy.
3- Developing an endless energy source that costs nothing to maintain.

Very good points.. all of this doesn't seem very achievable here on earth though. I think that someday we will find the key to immortality.. wether it be a suit that can maintain us in a kind of.. cryogenic state keeping all our organs young and fresh. Or just biology.. pumping let's say "primordial ooze" into our veins or something. (ninja turtle reference btw!)

I think spreading ourselves through the galaxy is extremely important.. we'd be the aliens invading other planets! muwhahaha.. but you know in a non evil kind of way.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

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Probably the only way we'd be able to move from this planet to another hospitable one is reproducing on the way. Basically make it so our decedents will eventually reach New Earth, as the people who originally embarked will have died long before.

Very interesting.. kind of like a Wall-e type thing.. makes sense.

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If all of humanity was equal would it really make things better or would it make things a lot worse? It might be worthwhile to strive for equality but it could be a disaster if it was ever reached.

Even in the end if equality is achieved.. hate will never die. Someone will always find something to hate.. sad but true

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There needs to be three teams working on three different things.
1- Unlocking the secret to immortality. This includes stopping aging, cloning yourself so if you are killed or your body is damaged your last mental backup can be transferred to the clone.
2- Developing faster than light travel so all these immortal people will have somewhere to live. We could populate the galaxy.
3- Developing an endless energy source that costs nothing to maintain.

Very good points.. all of this doesn't seem very achievable here on earth though. I think that someday we will find the key to immortality.. wether it be a suit that can maintain us in a kind of.. cryogenic state keeping all our organs young and fresh. Or just biology.. pumping let's say "primordial ooze" into our veins or something. (ninja turtle reference btw!)

I think spreading ourselves through the galaxy is extremely important.. we'd be the aliens invading other planets! muwhahaha.. but you know in a non evil kind of way.

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I wasn't thinking about hate. I was more concerned about indifference. If everyone was equal (same education, civil and human rights, access to everything) then why would anyone show empathy to someone who failed to get it?

In America we have free public education through the 12th grade. It was designed to educate kids to learn enough to get jobs (last century, not so much this century). We can get food and clothes anywhere without restrictions. Housing is still a problem and so is access to certain occupations.

Now suppose everyone is fully equal. Would you have any empathy or charity for someone who didn't get his share on his own? After all, he's equal to you and you got yours so he should have got his as well.

It would be an entirely new world that might make people more intolerant of others.

[max-greece]

Develop an alternative to the stock market which is based upon a global "happiness" index. The individual stocks and shares are replaced with specific happiness indicators grouped into sectors.

Put the time and effort into getting the happiness index up that we put into the stock market.

[paulpablo]

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I think it should be to increase pleasure among humanity.

This would probably be achieved by higher technology, more education less over population, war and crime.

The advantage of having a large population is that you end up with more really intelligent people. Countries that have small populations rarely produce any geniuses.

The reason there's so much crime in America is that every conceivable act known to man is illegal somewhere.

I was talking about crime in my country. Also why would it effect America if every conceivable act was illegal somewhere? Do you mean somewhere in America? And I didn't say the goal was for countries to be under populated just not over populated to the point of increasing poverty and disease which is the case in places like India, the slums of Brazil, Kenya and the Manilla. Sometimes it doesn't matter how clever you are if you live in a place where the water supply is fucked and you die of cholera before you're five years old or you just don't have an education, equipment, facilities and so on.

[Elskidor]

I believe in baby steps. Currently, I would settle for humanity to strive at recognizing same-sex marriage as legal.

Since universally recognized same-sex marriage is most likely going to be an inevitability, no matter how much time humanity is wasting fighting it, my ultimate number one goal for mankind would be for mythology to be recognized simply as that rather than anything bearing any resemblance to truthful knowledge.

Ditto

[Losty]

How can we have a collective number 1 goal when we are all so different?

[Mr Brightside]

How can we have a collective number 1 goal when we are all so different?

Well as far as my whole vision goes.. i picture it happening after everyone pretty much gets along. Realizes we are all humans and we should work together to better humankind.. A ridiculous concept i know but i still think its achievable in some shape or form. Regardless we will still be different, no one person is the same. Some of my best friends are far different from me yet we still get along and come to common goals in every day life.. I don't think it would be that hard with a well educated populace. As long as the goal was a good one that made sense. Sure there will always be nay sayers and people who would go against you.. But that's everyday life...

[jesus_wept]

To build heaven on earth. To give everyone a decent quality of life so people don't feel the need to wish for a better life after they die.