What is the highest priority problem with the world today? - Help.com

I would have to say that the way the world economy is governed and regulated in the future is the most important factor to resolve in the world today.

Human trafficking.

* miss lilies wrote:
Human trafficking.

oh and yes that is a necklace, its beads I got a T in the park a music festival :)
and yeah human trafficking is a huge problem in Scotland, ive read a few sottish policy documents about it.

I ran out of peanut mm’s.

…But i think the root cause of all these problems is selfishness.

I think the lack of planning ahead and working together as one whole is the main issue. Now it`s a little cowboy mentality out there.

I think lying is one of the worlds greatest problems. Imagine if politicians couldn’t lie to it’s democratic society? There is equipment now that can tell if someone is lying 99% of the time. Now with that said, it includes an MRI machine so politicians wouldn’t be able to use it today. On the other hand, courts could use it more frequently than they do, and with research and funding the technology could become more reliable and common place.

I would say ignorance.

Yes that is a very big problem as well.

I think an over all answer that fits most of what people have put…but it seems like the problem is the lack of enforcing basic “human” rights nourishment shelter the right to live…right to respect others lives.

While what you say is true. You seem to be confusing the heart of our problems for the symptoms. The fact that we have human right’s issues, in what, 38% of the world is a massive problem that needs to be attended to. But the root causes of these tragedies must also be attended to if we have any hope of making this world survive.

Well as right as you are in 400 million years the earth is screwed sun will die out and unless we can figure out how to live and do things with out it were screwed. If not that the nuclear weapons we will die of that some how.

Ignorance is the root cause of most problems.

Never mind guys, i got more peanut mm’s. Now we’ve got a higher priority problem, I don’t have any milk.

sum wrote:
Ignorance is the root cause of most problems.

I’m not convinced.

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:
Never mind guys, i got more peanut mm’s. Now we’ve got a higher priority problem, I don’t have any milk.

This is a serious post. Funny you may be, but add something useful. No trolling.

Quantum_Spirit wrote:

sum wrote:
Ignorance is the root cause of most problems.

I’m not convinced.

By ignorance i dont necisarily mean stupid, i mean lacking in the proper knowledge.

Well most misunderstandings or lack of knowledge leads to things such as war. Lack or knowledge of cures for things is what makes diseases not treated yet because they havent found out what they need to know yet. Global warming is ignorance caused. and other things

How could any of this be of any use at all? and i like to think of myself as more of an ogre than a troll. If you want a real answer to your question i guess i could give it a try.

The highest priority problem in the world today is inefficiency, its everywhere we look and in everything we use. If we could only come up with a solution for perpetual motion we could be about .023% of the way to maximum efficiency in the world.

Why would I think you meant stupidity. That in itself is ignorance, not to be confused with stupidity.

Few, if any large scale wars have been caused by ignorance. Wars are caused by a lack of caring, resources, and for superiority in most cases.

Ignorance to the cures of diseases are unavoidable. Though they are problems that need to be solved, that is all we can do. Try to solve them. We can never solve the problem of lack of knowledge, as knowledge appears to be endless in potential.

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:
How could any of this be of any use at all?

That in itself is the attitude that fuels the large body of people who are part of the cause of our worlds problems by acting complacent, guiltless and useless.

okay fine then ummmmmm not enough love in the world?

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:

The highest priority problem in the world today is inefficiency, its everywhere we look and in everything we use.

You make bold statements. Calling the world inefficient lacks a required product. What field do you hope to have better efficiency? Is it motion? Innovation? Science? Production? Human Reproduction? Living costs? E) All of the above?

Perpetual motion. that’s a lofty goal, but let’s stick with the world of the real. What is the highest priority problem in the world. This problem exists subjectively in each of based on your own values. It also exists objectively as the average, median, and mean problem common among the worlds population and all living inhabitants. It could even exist valued upon the intelligence of each individual. This would be common considering that we often choose not to include the livelihood of animals in our world issues.

And by that logic, how should I value your problems qwerty?

sum wrote:
okay fine then ummmmmm not enough love in the world?

Hahaha we’ve got an idealist in our midst. Goons, attack the hippie!

organized religion.

I personaly feel that most of the current events has alot to do with religion.

and Greed.

I have been all over this world, and I have seen third world countries, western nations and I see greed everywhere I go. If the human race is to survive, it needs to get past this greed and need to be better than others of its kind. People as a whole need to be more selfless and not so selfish.

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:
I ran out of peanut mm’s.

Global warming….

And xxdr.qwertyx’s peanut m&m’s…

i think it’s people. most of the other problems can genrally be distilled until they are merely reflections on the basic nature of people. i don’t believe in that whole people are inherently good/bad thing, i believe that people are inherently people, which is to say that we aren’t that far removed from animals. which is why when it comes down to it our fundamental motivators are greed, lust, and now we are more evolved, hedonism. all our evolution has done is allow the communication of abstract ideas, which has allowed us to work out in theory what is best for us. in practice this has never worked and will never work because morals, ethics and cultural systems are for the most part directly opposite to what the individual seeks to do in order to survive.

this is why the world is full of horrible, selfish, violent people from the streets outside to the politicians in power. we are naive to expect it to change, stupid to expect anyone to be able to do anything about it. one of two things will happen in my opinion, either we will evolve to a point where our basic drivers have been subdued and it becomes physically possible for us to live the way we aim to, or we will destroy ourselves.

Distribution of wealth: while one group of people still don’t get it and keep continue to accumulate, pile up all kinds of things they think will make them happy, other group of people don’t even have basic necessities to sustain their lives. Also, access and misuse of natural resources by again one group of people while the others don’t have access to such as clean drinking water. Just a few thoughts.

there is no 1 highest priority i mean every peice of a problem is critical and fixing a peice even if it’s a small peice is still on the right track to fixing all the problems.

I’m inclined to agree with the post regarding selfishness, or greed. a general desire to put ones self over everyone else. this is why we have wars, this is why car companies are getting american tax dollars and yet there are people who are homeless, this is why there is violence and robbery, because there seems to be a sense of entitlement in people in general. “as a major company, we are entitled to federal funding, as an angry youth, Im entitled to what’s in the cash register. etc.

Phantom gentleman wrote:
I’m inclined to agree with the post regarding selfishness, or greed. a general desire to put ones self over everyone else. this is why we have wars, this is why car companies are getting american tax dollars and yet there are people who are homeless, this is why there is violence and robbery, because there seems to be a sense of entitlement in people in general. “as a major company, we are entitled to federal funding, as an angry youth, Im entitled to what’s in the cash register. etc.

I too have a tendency to agree with greed being a major factor for strife in this world. Yet the case of the car companies getting bailed by the government may have been necessary in my opinion. Transportation is currently a needed commodity for every country in the world. Allowing the most productive corporations to go under would be a mistake. A better example would was AIG where they received $173 billion dollars to be bailed out and the government overlooked the $170 million dollars in bonuses for the executives. That’s 1% of the entire plan. How do these mistakes happen? Why do they feel they deserve such a bonus while the rest of country and world are suffering from an economic crisis?

These are questions that we probably won’t ever get the correct answer to. But we know people are greedy and we can safely assume that this had something to do with it. After all could you refuse a million dollar bonus for your ethics?

I would say that the biggest problem in the world today is the control that corporations have over our minds through mass media. The sources for information all have roots in a very small batch of companies and interests. It amazes me that with the expansion of venues for the transfer of information, coincided with this mass concentration of influence. We dont even get upset about outrageous events like the repeated looting of american tax dollars by bankers and war mongers, because the means by which we find out about them are owned by the perpetrators. They control our reactions to the news by spinning it from the moment we find out about it.

We as a people, need to reject the mass news organizations, and not let the news networks do the thinking for us. We need to be more critical about our reactions, and demand news that is free from “editorial opinion” news needs to be news, and opinion needs to be clearly stated as opinion. The loss of the newspapers will only make the problem worse.
Reject the teachings of the ministry of truth.

Lenny Leonard wrote:

We as a people, need to reject the mass news organizations,

i’m sorry, does anyone else see the irony in that?

our since of seperation from God beause of guilt and fear. if we didnt have guilt and fear, all the “problems” would go away.

glamourboy wrote:
our since of seperation from God beause of guilt and fear. if we didnt have guilt and fear, all the “problems” would go away.

Uh yeah….

Quantum_Spirit wrote:

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:
How could any of this be of any use at all?

That in itself is the attitude that fuels the large body of people who are part of the cause of our worlds problems by acting complacent, guiltless and useless.

Are you suggesting that im the cause of the worlds problems?

Dr.Qwerty wrote:

Quantum_Spirit wrote:

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:
How could any of this be of any use at all?

That in itself is the attitude that fuels the large body of people who are part of the cause of our worlds problems by acting complacent, guiltless and useless.

Are you suggesting that im the cause of the worlds problems?

it’s got past the point where individuals can make a difference, i mean i know they can make a little difference, but the way the tv and news works a hero is only around for 5 minutes on maybe 4 out of 40 channels and the same ratio of newspapers and radio stations before the next thing happens, or a celeb story breaks, or a new hero comes along. we’ll never have another ghandi or martin luther because there’s too much **** going on, with too many people making their voices heard. ghandi wouldn’t stand out in a crowded room, neither will anyone else. we live in a new world, goverened by a mass malaise which is what allows the attrocities of the world to continue so easily. we could have solved the problems in africa or wherever else long ago, we didn’t and we won’t because it doesn’t work like that anymore. the time of good guys and bad guys has passed, now we are in the age of relentless, rolling, 24 hour coverage telling us we are helpless to fight against the inherent cruelty of the human condition. and for once the news is probably right.

Jubille, I disagree with your assessment of the impact one individual can have. Look at the new president Obama. He’s been making headlines since the first day in office. And he’s been lifting the hopes of many American people. Even me, a Canadian. Now I take it he’s a president, but my point is individual’s still make the difference. Television isn’t the only “mass population” altering commodity. You could also take Stephen Hawking as a geatly influential persons. There are more, even today.

Dr.Qwerty wrote:

Quantum_Spirit wrote:

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:
How could any of this be of any use at all?

That in itself is the attitude that fuels the large body of people who are part of the cause of our worlds problems by acting complacent, guiltless and useless.

Are you suggesting that im the cause of the worlds problems?

Yes, I am. Though certainly not all of them. Nor do I think you are a serious problem. Pessimism has serious drawbacks when put into the masses. Most people feel pessimistic when it comes to solving world issues like corrupted politics, greedy corporations, and hungry people. The fact is a solution is possible in all these areas. We just haven’t found it. Think of it like winning the lottery. If only a few people played no one would win because the odds are too far against you. But if millions play, then people win every week or every day. Right now very few people are really trying to solve world issues. We could always use one more player. Even if that play is just a change in attitude, over the years you will make a difference. Just like over the years, if you keep playing the lottery you might win.

I encourage you all to invite your friends. The responses we get on this post, the better it is.

quantum, i disagree with both of your examples. firstly Obama; i think that he will be a great president, but i do not believe that the president can make great changes to the world and the way it works because he (or eventually she) is a president and it goes against everything that (whether they like it or not) they represent. and also to be honest so far obama hasn’t done very much, just talked. i love him, and i do think he’s infinately better than bush, but i am very aware of the massive PR machine that brought him to power, and very aware that i don’t want to be caught up in it like many people i know who blindly think he’s incredible and will solve all the worlds problems. and to be honest him anouncing he wants a world without nuclear weapons has just made me think that he’s a talking ideas man, i’m still waiting to see him really ring out the changes, but i really hope he can.

and stephen hawking has made a difference to specific people, but again he’s yesterday’s news already, most people probably don’t know who he is other than him being in a wheelchair. as sad as it is his cultural popularity was as much down to his ‘overcoming the odds’ sob story as it was his incredible genius, and so far there has been no evidence to suggest the massive expansion in our knowledge that has occured because of him has had any social or cultural impact at all. the people at the bottom rung are certainly not thanking god that mr hawking came along.

Well I’m not really sure where your standpoint is. You say individuals can make a difference, just very little of it. I also don’t know what a great changes would be defined as.

But here’s one that I heard yesterday on a program called “The Cold War Declassified”. When the Americans found nuclear warheads in cuba they decided to send a naval embargo. What they didn’t know was that submarines equipped with nuclear tipped torpedoes were waiting for them. The submarines decided not to fire them because they weren’t in communication with the motherland and didn’t know if they had clearance to start nuclear war.

As it turned out they did have authorization to fire if necessary, and when they returned to base, their superiors gave them hell for not firing when they were supposed to. And according to the program, the U.S. was prepared to strike on any kind of nuclear attack whether it be in the U.S. or on their naval fleet.

So in reality the world didn’t go up in a blaze of fire because one man decided he didn’t have the knowledge to start this war. Kind of miraculous, I’d say. Because he would have if he had the orders. In fact the crew wanted to, considering that the world could be at arms at that moment and they wouldn’t know.

is that really making a difference though? that’s just avoiding a consequence of our times. he made a judgement call, and it could have gone the other way, i mean he made a very brave decision, but it’s not like he set out to achieve something, make a change in the world, and then succeeded.

to be honest my standpoint is that some people may be able to make a tiny difference to some things, but the world is too fast moving and too media-inundated to pick them up and run with them; anyone that would be in a position to really change things would doubtless be swept aside when the next X factor starts, or the next african attrocity, or the next kid to be hit by a car, or the next school shooting etc etc etc. the world as it exists now has got to a point where it is inherently preserving itself in its current state of being. pretty clever really, just sucks for 99% of people.

Quantum_Spirit wrote:
Jubille, I disagree with your assessment of the impact one individual can have. Look at the new president Obama. He’s been making headlines since the first day in office. And he’s been lifting the hopes of many American people. Even me, a Canadian. Now I take it he’s a president, but my point is individual’s still make the difference. Television isn’t the only “mass population” altering commodity. You could also take Stephen Hawking as a geatly influential persons. There are more, even today.

Dr.Qwerty wrote:

Quantum_Spirit wrote:

xxdr.qwertyx wrote:
How could any of this be of any use at all?

That in itself is the attitude that fuels the large body of people who are part of the cause of our worlds problems by acting complacent, guiltless and useless.

Are you suggesting that im the cause of the worlds problems?

Yes, I am. Though certainly not all of them. Nor do I think you are a serious problem. Pessimism has serious drawbacks when put into the masses. Most people feel pessimistic when it comes to solving world issues like corrupted politics, greedy corporations, and hungry people. The fact is a solution is possible in all these areas. We just haven’t found it. Think of it like winning the lottery. If only a few people played no one would win because the odds are too far against you. But if millions play, then people win every week or every day. Right now very few people are really trying to solve world issues. We could always use one more player. Even if that play is just a change in attitude, over the years you will make a difference. Just like over the years, if you keep playing the lottery you might win.

I think i see what your getting at… Anyone wanna go in on a load of lotto tickets with me? I’ve got five grand saved up and this seems like a justifiable cause to spend it, judging by quantum’s advice.

I didn’t give you advice. I simply told you the way the world is. You can accept it, or not. That choice is up to you.

Well you’ve obviously got it all completely figured out so I’m going to take your word for it and make an obscene investment in lottery tickets.

First of all buying copious amounts lottery tickets only shows your incomprehension of my word. Please tell me, what part of my words were encouraging you to buy lots of lottery tickets? And second of all, thank you for the compliment.

continuing with the lottery metaphor however one could argue that the more people play, the less likely you are to actually win.

to be honest the solutions for most of the worlds problems have been around a long time, in the same way that the solutions to many things have been around for a long time. however if it benefits someone not to have those solutions come to light, or fruition, then they will be bought and stored, or just ignored altogether. like i said before, the simple fact is we could have solved many things a very long time ago. the reasons we haven’t are twofold; either it serves us not to, or it doesn’t benefit us to solve them. for example, the UK has no reason to care about malaria in africa, it doesn’t damage our economy or population, africa doesn’t have many more resources that would be made available by a lack of malaria, and it would cost us money. out of sight, out of mind.

i suppose now i think about it there is one more reason why we haven’t truly changed things in certain places, and that would be because in order to do so would require massive and drastic action. for example, to continue using africa as the example one could argue that in regions where corrupt governments rule (and frequently use charity money for their own means, some have argued that live aid cost as many lives as it saved because some of the money was used to fund civil wars) the only viable way to ensure the money goes where it’s needed would be through some sort of occupation, this would never be justifiable legally or morally to a european government. plus it would end up being prohibitively expensive.

in my opinion the cold truth is that people in power generally don’t give a **** about these places because they have no reason to, and the few that do really care will always be fighting a world that hasn’t been designed by them and will not help them achieve their goals.