An Egotistical, But Slightly Provactative Question

Where am I in the scope of history?
Where are we in history?

When future generations look back on us, both publicly and privately, how will we be percieved? Will we be seen as Rome right before the fall? Are we on the brink of some great collective epiphany? Who will be seen as the movers and shakers of our time?

Something that's been bugging me lately is the wasted potential of today's planet Earth. What if we focused all our attention on the improvement of all social conditions? What if we unlocked all the capital in the third world? How much impact would the ending of poverty, or at the very least hunger, have on human ideas (science, philosophy, art, literature, etc.)

Is this question extremely naive? This is within our grasp, isnt it?

Shed all your cynicism for just ten minutes and think about this seriously.

What if everyone instantaneously shared a collective sense of charity, whereby we would no longer feel capable of amassing so much capital without at least attending to the basic human needs of others on the planet? Is there a human pathology that makes us inherently greedy, or at least willfully ignorant of the plight of others?

What is so liberal about this idea? Theoretically, the Christian Right should have come up with this first. The earliest Christians lived in communes and shared everything. This was out of necessity, as Christians were being collectively persecuted for hundreds of years. Now that the west has ended up on top, for the time being, Christianity has become a defence for capitalism. This wouldn't be such a bad thing if modern economics made more room for a conscience. But people seem to be addicted to wealth. Look at the heads of huge corporations. Million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes. Meanwhile some kid in Haiti just went without dinner for the fourth night in a row.

Is that gap too big? Am I leaping to completely unconnected conclusions here?

But what if we found a way to even things out, just a little bit more. What if we could make sure that people didn't have to worry about where to get their next meal? Then they could worry about better things, like how to build a better burning lightbulb, or how to cure cancer once and for all. We could unlock the potential energy of billions of brains, and do something that benefits every living being.

Think of humanity as a big computer. Right now, we're only operating on a percentage of our processing power. What if we found a way to use humanity for its full capacity? Everyone's own individuality could contribute to a massive and diverse human supercomputer. We could all think for ourselves, both individually and collectively.

We're all human beings. We all live on the same planet. The powers that be are trying to make that planet smaller and smaller. How long until we can't ignore the problem of poverty any longer?

Where are we in history? Who will percipitate the next big change. What is the next big change?

What if sharing the wealth destroyed the marketplace completely, sending us into some horrible new dark age? What if liberation from money means the destruction of civilization?

What is the next stage of human evolution? We can't be done evolving. If that's true, if this is what it's like to be homo sapien superior, then what a big disappointment for humanity.

Can't there be a human scripture? Can't there be some text that we can all read, regardless of race/language/creed/religion, that convinces us to collectively improve our circumstances? Wouldn't that be so fulfilling? Wouldn't you love to tell your children, or your nieces and nephews, or your students that you were part of the big step forward? Wouldn't you be proud to say that you read the book that kickstarted the golden age of human kind?

Is this naive? Or is imaginative? I know I can't be the first person to think of this.

I'm not saying everybody would instantaneously become "good." I think there will always be a darker side to humanity. But what if that darker side was no longer represented in our public life? What if people unanymously allowed themselves to be guided by some golden principle of mutual respect and dignity? What if?

What if?

What if?

Where am I in history?

Am I one of many people to witness humanity fail to live up to its potential?