If EVERYONE was like YOU would the World be a better place?

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Before this devolves into some chaotic mess of discussions involving moral philosophy, psychology, dystopian science fiction, cloning, anarcho-primitivism, etc., this might be a good time to get some feedback from the OP. The original question is worded rather ambiguously, and he hasn't clarified anything or responded to anyone at this point. It's an unusual hypothetical situation that will never happen, and the purpose of this thread isn't clear. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that it wasn't intended as a bait thread to attract reactionary posts from narcissists and misanthropes.

How much "likeness" are we talking about here? Genetically identical clones? Neurologically similar people on the spectrum? People with the same results on the Myers-Briggs? People with similar cultural/ religious/ political beliefs? There are endless possibilities.

I have this feeling that this thread was supposed to be a 'call to action' of some sort. 'If everyone was like you, would the world be a better place? If not, what can you change?'

Last edited by ReticentJaeger on 27 Jul 2014, 1:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

This. Plus every child would be taken care of. The only reason I don't have foster children is because of my work schedule. And elderly abuse would stop immediately too. And if everyone were like me getting financial aid for college would be made easier...

Well, if everyone were like me, then everyone would be hard(ish) working and honest. There would be no more thieves, or public assistance hustlers, or people who rip off old ladies.

If everyone were like me, there would be a lot of deliberation before things were done. There would be less stupid impulsive decisions. That would probably lead to less divorces, less affairs, less abortions, less of all kinds of things we could do with less of.

If everyone were like me, animal abuse would pretty much stop. People might get mad and THINK about killing the cat, or even TALK about killing the cat, but that would be OK, because it wouldn't actually happen.

If everyone were like me, we would have less trouble with excessive consumption and environmental degradation.

If everyone were like me, there would be no perfect parents, but there would also be no parents who didn't give enough of a damn to try really, really hard to do right by their kids.

If everyone were like me, there would be no different ideas. There wouldn't be a whole lot of innovation, because I like things the way they are. There wouldn't be much music, because I like music, but suck at making it. There wouldn't be a whole lot of socializing, and socializing is good, if not for me, at least for society in general.

People should disagree. They should think and feel differently and learn to work stuff out. Life would be really dull if everyone were like me (or anyone).

Either you are operating on a personal definition of "atrocity," or you don't know what it means. It is blatantly false that every one of us has committed some sort of atrocity. In general, bullying is not an atrocity.

I hate when people start saying "everyone" or "we humans." It seems like those phrases never apply to me.
"We humans are social creatures."
"Everyone is racist"
Uh, leave me out of it lol. I think they say those sorts of things to feel better about themselves.

I voted no. While I guess I do have likeable qualities, there's plenty of stuff that knocks it all down.

- I'm very bitchy when I want to get something done and someone keeps bothering me
- I'm angered when people just assume I think the same way they do on a subject
- I'm actually very bitchy in general if you know me in real life
- My time management is not exactly the best, neither is my organization
- I get burned out when I need energy the most
- a whole bunch of other things

Sorry. Substitute your own word then. My point is that we've all done bad things we're not proud of.

And whether we like it or not, we're all human. I don't quite like being grouped in with others either, but it's the truth. I don't care if you accept it. I'm just telling it like it is.

I have to disagree: bullying is an atrocity.

Again, depends on your definition of "atrocity".

It's a very extreme word, usually applied to things like mass murder and genocide. Murdering one person is not usually described as an "atrocity" unless the murder is particularly cruel, so if you take that as the borderline benchmark, then bullying--which is essentially harassment, often including assault--is not an atrocity. But that's only because an atrocity is such an extreme word, not because bullying is somehow okay, but because it isn't actually the absolute worst thing one human could do to another.

That's mostly semantics, though I think semantics is important enough to talk about because when people use words where one person thinks they mean a different thing than someone else does, communication can break down, like so:

Person 1 says, "Bullying is an atrocity", and means, "Bullying is an inexcusable act that causes great damage."
Person 2 hears, "Bullying is an atrocity like the Holocaust or the Trail of Tears," and replies, "No, it's not. Bullying happens every day."
Person 1 hears, "Bullying isn't actually a problem."

They could start out with identical opinions but end up arguing because each person missed the other person's meaning.

When we talk to somebody, it is good to check to make sure our interpretation of their words is the same as what they meant it to be. We're mostly autistic here, so we make those mistakes a lot and we have to be patient with each other, but it does help to know that it happens.

Also, I think I've gone completely off topic and used this as an example to lead into a lecture. Oh well!

...also, bullying hurts, and is bad, and I wish it didn't exist.

Very true.

And I knew what you meant by 'atrocity'. Almost used as a figure of speech. KInd of clever usage I thought.

But as for a world of mees...

What are you crazy!! !! OMG, its too frightening too even begin to imagine.

Bullying can, and has, driven people to suicide - and that's an atrocity from my perspective. Especially because the perpetrators get away with it (and no doubt some ego trippers get off on it, alas).

If everyone was like me it would certainly be different.

Fair enough. Systematic harassment and repeated assault isn't something I'd call an atrocity, but it approaches close enough that I won't quibble.

Well, it would certainly be easier to find clothes which fit, and which suited my taste as well ....

Seriously, it depends on what is meant. You certainly wouldn't want a world of people with my particular skills, interests, and foibles. For one thing it would be hard to get anybody to choose the careers which I would find overly difficult (physicist, mathematician) or just plain icky (dentist).

On the other hand, it would be wonderful if everybody shared my moral sense and explicit philosophy. There'd be no cruelty or crime, and scarcely any need for police, military, or indeed government at all ?

No, because I'm self-centered and lazy, and I tend to hold grudges. No progress would ever be made, and everybody would just be busy bitching and complaining at one another.