• Question: If you had a chance to change the world. What would you do ??

    Asked by courteney to Ed, Katie, Sam, Steve, Vera on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Vera Weisbecker

      Vera Weisbecker answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I’d change the human evolutionary past to make them better able to understand the impact of their actions on others. In broad terms, humans have evolved to look after a small group of people that they feel loyalty to (your family, your nationality, or your religious group). This means that, as long as our immediate group is not affected, we don’t worry about hurting others or future generations. This leads us to use up resources like water that others need much more, blowing CO2 into the atmosphere, or buying things that we know other people don’t get properly paid for. We all simply don’t think of this because our brains haven’t evolved to cope with it – I’d love to change that.

    • Photo: Ed Morrison

      Ed Morrison answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      My answer is sort of similar to Vera. If I could wave a magic wand, I would get rid of disease, and ensure that there were enough resources for everyone to live happily with no suffering. I would also probably limit our reproductive rate so the earth doesn’t become (even more) overpopulated.

      But without a magic wand, many of these changes could be achieved simply by redistributing wealth from the very rich people (in countries like the UK) to the desperately poor in much of the world. I would like to see that happen.

    • Photo: Katie Marriott

      Katie Marriott answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I agree with Vera and Ed.

      I would love to turn back time and stop the dinosaurs from going extinct to see how evolution pans out. Although humans as we are today probably would not have evolved!

    • Photo: Sam Tazzyman

      Sam Tazzyman answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Vera and Ed’s answers are lovely.

      On a less serious note, though, I’d love to see what would have happened if Neanderthals had survived longer and were still around today – how would humans get on with them? What would they be like?

    • Photo: Steven Daly

      Steven Daly answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I would just like to remove all war from the planet, and have people just get along and share. I would certainly have everyone equal, so that everyone has the same chances in life. The whole money-grabbing culture we have would also go. I’d like to see people value what is really important, such as each other and the world we share than numbers in a bank of small pieces of transition metals.

      I’d also like animals to be able to talk to us!

Comments

  • Photo: Vera

    Vera commented on :

    I think I know the answer to Sam’s question how human and neanderthals would get on. The species that has the upper hand would be really mean to the species that doesn’t. It happens today with people with much fewer differences than neanderthals and us, like skin colour, religion, gender, any little piddly difference really. If I could change the world I’d probably try and change this too.