Philosophy with teens (Vol.1)

[RickMason]

He's been called a mad man by some and a visionary by others. Nevertheless, this question he brought up in his Cosmos (1980) seems relevant enough to me, so what do you think?
"If we were visited by a superior species from another part of the galaxy, and we were forced to explain to them our stewardship of our planet, not to mention the state of human affairs today, would we be proud of what we described?"
- Carl Sagan

[Stronk Serb]

Probably not. The aliens wouldn't understand it because they would probably have a completely different mentality. Still, our current governing systems suck.

[dirtyboxer55]

sure why not

[WaffleSingSong]

I think that we have done a quite decent job at it. We are starting to become globalized and starting to begin a rough journey that will end at planetary unification in one form or another. For there to be growth, we had to struggle with ourselves and nature and we have done that for so long were starting to dip the water of what many people might consider social transcendence. So, I think we've had a rocky road, but if we did not, would we have even had the triumphs we've had as a species?

[Typhlosion]

Any society is subject to the flaws of its components. For human beings, I wouldn't say we're doing too bad.

[Dennis98]

There are more galaxies , than all grain of sand on Earth .... So there is big chance that we're not alone in Space and that we're not only superior species .

[sunnieseason]

I don't think we should be so proud of a world in which humans still kill each other over stupid things like religion and oil. Humans don't seem to learn the lessons of the past. Global government won't solve those problems, it will just be more of the same. I think the aliens would just facepalm and then leave us behind to worry about silly things like why the footballs were deflated in the last Patriots game.

[amgb]

I don't think we should be so proud of a world in which humans still kill each other over stupid things like religion and oil. Humans don't seem to learn the lessons of the past. Global government won't solve those problems, it will just be more of the same. I think the aliens would just facepalm and then leave us behind to worry about silly things like why the footballs were deflated in the last Patriots game.

I agree, but to the dark there is always a light side. I think there are also many things we can be proud of. Humanity has evolved and progressed immensely in the past milleniums and we have become this amazing global community full of so many good things not just bad things. We've discovered and invented many things, most of which is to help the population to live better and better lives. We are continuously improving ourselves, connecting with each other, sustaining and conserving life and the environment around us, and helping those in need. Although there is conflict, greed, cruelty, selfishness, there is also a lot of kindness, sincerity, selflessness and goodness amongst us humans.

[Leprous]

I don't think we should be so proud of a world in which humans still kill each other over stupid things like religion and oil. Humans don't seem to learn the lessons of the past. Global government won't solve those problems, it will just be more of the same. I think the aliens would just facepalm and then leave us behind to worry about silly things like why the footballs were deflated in the last Patriots game.

Person above me said it. ^^

Why don't people focus on actual problems instead of killing eachother off for basicly every possible reason. People nowadays seem to be looking for excuses to murder.

[sunnieseason]

We are continuously improving ourselves, connecting with each other, sustaining and conserving life and the environment around us, and helping those in need. Although there is conflict, greed, cruelty, selfishness, there is also a lot of kindness, sincerity, selflessness and goodness amongst us humans.


I agree. I didn't mean to sound so negative. I think there are some really awesome things about humanity like the technology we come up with. Like have you ever thought about airplanes? How cool are airplanes?