Should everyone's main goal in life to be to make the world a better place?

[OtterMan68]

Should you try your best to leave the world a better place than you found it?

Yes, we should all strive for that

No, it's not a goal for everyone

other

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

Yes as an ideal to strive towards (not an expectation), but I think most people think too simplistically about it if they're going to turn into environmental activists under this mindset.

Activists tend to be so short-sighted and narrow-minded that even their greatest efforts can leave questions as to whether they actually made things better for humanity well into the future or worse. Very often I think they tend to make things worse because of their narrow-sightedness.

Take the example of parents who raise a good-hearted child, whose goodness will cause them to raise another good-hearted child, who then aids and encourages another child in ways that inspires them to encourage others to do the same with cascading effects across a network of social connections, ultimately to result in one being encouraged to pursue their biggest goals to become a scientist who then invents the cure for cancer.

All people in that chain of events have likely contributed to making the world a substantially better place.

[NaultD]

"Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.” Let the old men plant trees, though they may never expect to eat the fruit of them. Ambition impels men to do that which will not benefit them, except in their own consciousness."

[menina]

Yes it should. Unfortunately some people are not interested in making the world a better place. On the contrary, they want to make it worse.

[jennifer_bloom]

I feel happy when I do good things. It might be my duty but it’s also a mood booster for me.

[shoeboxcerealcard]

Everyone already is making the world a better place. Hitler made it a better place because he taught the world a lesson. Slavery made the world a better place because it taught everyone a lesson. Just because something appears bad doesn't mean it isn't improving the world in the long term. Growth isn't pretty.

[midnightmoon05]

Yes yes and yes!!! My own children will and my students will!!!
what a great way to live.

[shoeboxcerealcard]

How do you know that though? Most people don't.

[midnightmoon05]

@shoeboxcerealcard most don’t… what can I do?

[shoeboxcerealcard]

Actually most do but not intentionally. Hitler taught the world a big lesson and so did slavery. However, those things had to retard the world before they made the world better. They made the world worse so that we could understand where not to go. That's what most people do. Over and over.

If you want your kids and student to better the world they have to have a desire and intention to do that. Most people don't. You have to have an intention for your life and for everyday of your life. Then after the intention, you have to actually put in the action. Not massive action but a few disciplines that achieve the goal. You have to say yes even when there is no sign that you will achieve it other than your work ethic. Those are the 2 barriers. Plan and act. Most don't make the plan clear enough or daily and surely most don't act. Because it's uncomfortable. But all the better circumstances of life come from that. You have to think about it everyday. All day long. It has to be your Northstar. They people who better the world live the best lives.

[midnightmoon05]

@shoeboxcerealcard wise come with age…shows here

[Siri137]

"Better" in what way though? What might be better for me may not be for you, and vice versa.

[OtterMan68]

could mean cleaner, safer, more educated, kinder, less impoverished,

[Siri137]

Yes, I'll go along with that.

[deus_ex_sisyphus]

At a literal sense, I would disagree - we need chaos to necessitate change. If people walked on egg shells out of fear toward leaving a bad imprint on the world, then society would stagnate and life would be boring

[OtterMan68]

you don't think the entrepreneurs of the past: Watt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc wanted to make the world a better place?

[deus_ex_sisyphus]

@OtterMan68 Rockefeller built a monopoly and ran his competition out of frame - you'd be a fool to think you can become the oil baron at the turn of a century, while being altruistic. Do you think Hitler's goal in life was to make the world a better place?

[OtterMan68]

rockefeller made kerosene cheap, and got people off of whale oil

[deus_ex_sisyphus]

@OtterMan68, so when you say 'make the world a better place' are you referring to make the world a better place for everyone, make the world a better place for yourself?

[OtterMan68]

wouldn't providing cheap oil for heating and lighting be good?

[OtterMan68]

www.rockefellerfoundation.org/.../

[deus_ex_sisyphus]

What if Rockefeller only undercut his competition to drive them out of business then jack up the prices after they declared bankruptcy?

[deus_ex_sisyphus]

www.law.cornell.edu/.../...v._united_states_(1911)

By people in Rockefeller's time, it was determined that Rockefeller's monopoly was found guilty of raising prices, reducing output, and reduced quality. Again, I ask to you, does 'make the world a better place' mean for you, or for society at large?

[exitseven]

yes, we should try to leave the earth a better place. I am not done yet

[patois]

What better is debatable based on opinion. If you try to change other people it leads to war.

[patois]

*What's

[patois]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-qfzH0vnOs

[OtterMan68]

I was thinking along the lines of Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates

[patois]

Big Gates is a terrorist.

[OtterMan68]

you mean he cooks up viruses in "peach tree dishes"? :-)

[patois]

Nope. Even I do that kind of stuff. Being a biologist doesn't make you a terrorist.

[Dargil]

To leave the world better than when you arrived. Just like a campsite in Yellowstone.

[OddBeMe]

Technically no. We should make it profitable to make the world better. People will never do it otherwise.

[shoeboxcerealcard]

People still won't do it. It's profitable to do many things that many of us still don't do.

[OddBeMe]

@shoeboxcerealcard true-ish…but the profit is three moves ahead. Like climate change. Or funding the poor.

[NathanDavis]

idealism... is just that, idealism

[jahaims]

Nope

[OtterMan68]

why not?

[jahaims]

Life is short, and 99.99% of other people don't care about others. It is a waste of a life.

[shoeboxcerealcard]

Gl trying to get anything in life without treating others well.