The Invention That Saved The World

reavo

If there were one invention that could save the world, what do you think it would be?



I think if there were something that could let a person live as another person for a day it would do the trick.  It would have to be one that put them in that persons place to where they didn't know they had been put there until they were returned back to their body.  That way they could experience exactly what it's like to be someone that they never understood.  Or it could even make people understand people that they thought they understood at first. 



It seems that one of the main problems with people is our inability to understand others.  And some people take that inability to an extreme through the act of not even caring to understand other people. 



I could see a device like this causing some folks to drop to their knees to beg for forgiveness from others that they have hurt with their actions.



So what invention do you think could save us all and let us finally live together peacefully?

modjoe86

I really dont think such a device would work. True empathy is just not a human emotion. I know if I woke up as a starving ethiopian, then woke back up as myself, my ability to empathize wouldn't have changed much. I'm a selfish person, as are most people that can blissfully ignore what's going on in the third world countries. I mean, I feel bad for them, but I don't care enough to send them $28 USD per month. That buys a nice bottle of vodka, and I'd rather get drunk then gain some sense of personal satisfaction by mailing a check to some organization that profits from my money.



I think the invention that would save the world would be a device that allowed for the human race to evolve to the next stage of our enlightenment. Until we take a step further away from our primate friends, we are going to keep being hedonistic assholes. At least I've learned to accept it.

upallnight

Originally posted by modjoe86

I really dont think such a device would work. True empathy is just not a human emotion. I know if I woke up as a starving ethiopian, then woke back up as myself, my ability to empathize wouldn't have changed much. I'm a selfish person, as are most people that can blissfully ignore what's going on in the third world countries. I mean, I feel bad for them, but I don't care enough to send them $28 USD per month. That buys a nice bottle of vodka, and I'd rather get drunk then gain some sense of personal satisfaction by mailing a check to some organization that profits from my money.



I think the invention that would save the world would be a device that allowed for the human race to evolve to the next stage of our enlightenment. Until we take a step further away from our primate friends, we are going to keep being hedonistic assholes. At least I've learned to accept it.

Actually, from what I've read you don't seem like too much of an asshole at all. 



Like with the Ethiopian thing...  Just sending them money doesn't necessarily mean you are helping them.  It just means you are giving them some food to eat, but not necessarily giving them the opportunity to get their life to a self supportive place.  People have been sending money to Ethiopians for years but there are still hungry folks there.  The assholes are the people who use the money in a non-productive way and then make people like you wary to send your money to them knowing it will be wasted.



The utility of your being drunk does outweigh the utility of a meal given to someone just to prolong their suffering without being a genuine solution.

noname12345

I agree with Modjoe on the enlightenment device. I was gonna say that myself. It would have to be something that helped us become like little Buddhas that don't need or want materialistic stuff to the point where it escalates to unpeaceful acts, this also goes for control over other people's lives (live and let live).



I hear there is a device in beta that is attempting peace. It's called:



Country Invader 1000!



Actual Testimony!

"We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators" - Cheney

"We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous.... the United States and our allies have prevailed." - Bush

Draenor

A time machine.  Why?  Because it would allow people to go to any place in time, and stay there if they aren't happy with the present.  I wouldn't have to deal with people crying about George Bush because they could go back to the Clinton days...I wouldn't have to hear about people crying about how much the United States sucks, because they could go back a couple hundred years and not have to deal with it.

Basically, I wouldn't have to deal with cry babies who complain about things that they aren't willing, nor able to do anything about....at least not crybabies who are willing to step into my time machine

Draenor

Originally posted by upallnight

Originally posted by modjoe86

I really dont think such a device would work. True empathy is just not a human emotion. I know if I woke up as a starving ethiopian, then woke back up as myself, my ability to empathize wouldn't have changed much. I'm a selfish person, as are most people that can blissfully ignore what's going on in the third world countries. I mean, I feel bad for them, but I don't care enough to send them $28 USD per month. That buys a nice bottle of vodka, and I'd rather get drunk then gain some sense of personal satisfaction by mailing a check to some organization that profits from my money.



I think the invention that would save the world would be a device that allowed for the human race to evolve to the next stage of our enlightenment. Until we take a step further away from our primate friends, we are going to keep being hedonistic assholes. At least I've learned to accept it.

Actually, from what I've read you don't seem like too much of an asshole at all. 



Like with the Ethiopian thing...  Just sending them money doesn't necessarily mean you are helping them.  It just means you are giving them some food to eat, but not necessarily giving them the opportunity to get their life to a self supportive place.  People have been sending money to Ethiopians for years but there are still hungry folks there.  The assholes are the people who use the money in a non-productive way and then make people like you wary to send your money to them knowing it will be wasted.



The utility of your being drunk does outweigh the utility of a meal given to someone just to prolong their suffering without being a genuine solution.

of course, there are organizations that you can donate money for specific purposes to...there are ways that you can donate money explicitly for a community in a third world country to build better plumbing, or even schools...my Church sends out a mailer for organizations like that.

noname12345

A time machine could solve a lot. I would go back in time and tell our forefathers all about the future of their country that they are writing a constitution for. I would tell them all about the different ways it's being torn apart, then they could make it even stronger.



...well it would help the peace in America a good deal.

Draenor

Originally posted by AlexAmore

A time machine could solve a lot. I would go back in time and tell our forefathers all about the future of their country that they are writing a constitution for. I would tell them all about the different ways it's being torn apart, then they could make it even stronger.



...well it would help the peace in America a good deal.

I should add...you can't come back to the present...it's Terminator time travel, not Back to the Future time travel

mithrandir72

A replicator, like you see in Star Trek (Definitely not the replicators from Stargate), only not just for food. It copies/creates anything and everything.

Obviously this would end world hunger, but this is only the start. Money would suddenly become useless, as large amounts of money could just be made effortless. Currency would have to be retired. There would now be no good reason to go to war, or opress your people, because everyone can have anything they want. While everyone would be living on the same standards, it wouldn't be anything like communism, as you have all kinds of different people creating different styles for themselves and their homes, eating differently, drinking differently, etc. Theft would suddenly become obsolete. Many jobs might suddenly become obsolete, however, so this isn't without its problems.

However, I'm pretty sure that by the time this technology is invented (if it is even physically possible), society will be quite a bit better equipped to handle the problems that come along. At least I hope it would.

olddaddy

Originally posted by reavo

If there were one invention that could save the world, what do you think it would be?

Duct tape.....

albinofreak

A giant killer robot that floats through the air and destroys all weaponry in the world so we cant beat each other up anymo'

mithrandir72

Originally posted by olddaddy

Originally posted by reavo

If there were one invention that could save the world, what do you think it would be?

Duct tape.....

He's probably right, duct tape saves the world everyday by holding it together.

Gameloading

An invention that would:



1: Disprove every religion out there.



OR



2: Disprove science, and all but one religion.



That would unite earth, and we can finally set our most dangerous diffrences aside.

Aelfinn

mass remedial involuntary hypnosis. Devices capable of such a feat in the right hands could literally reshape the way we look at the world and each other. Note: in the wrong hands (ie. pretty much anybody at all), it would be even worse than before.

Draenor

Originally posted by Gameloading

An invention that would:



1: Disprove every religion out there.



OR



2: Disprive science, and all but one religion.



That would unite earth, and we can finally set our most dangerous diffrences aside.

Congrats on being the second person that I have blocked on these forums...I can take ignorance and intolerance to a point, but you take the cake...your sheer lack of knowledge regarding the Bible has shown on many occasions, and even when you are told by someone who knows more than you, you persist in your attacks on Christianity and religion on general.  People like you are the reason that atheists are the most distrusted people in the United States, your bigotry is rivaled by very few, congratulations on being the pinnacle of hypocrisy.  Considering Atheists are some of the loudest people when it comes to pointing out intolerance in religions, you sure do a good job of dishing out a good deal of the bigotry yourself.

ps.  In order for your invention to prove anything, it would need to find a way to invent itself...I love a good paradox.

kashaun

Originally posted by Draenor

Originally posted by Gameloading

An invention that would:



1: Disprove every religion out there.



OR



2: Disprive science, and all but one religion.



That would unite earth, and we can finally set our most dangerous diffrences aside.

Congrats on being the second person that I have blocked on these forums...I can take ignorance and intolerance to a point, but you take the cake...your sheer lack of knowledge regarding the Bible has shown on many occasions, and even when you are told by someone who knows more than you, you persist in your attacks on Christianity and religion on general.  People like you are the reason that atheists are the most distrusted people in the United States, your bigotry is rivaled by very few, congratulations on being the pinnacle of hypocrisy.  Considering Atheists are some of the loudest people when it comes to pointing out intolerance in religions, you sure do a good job of dishing out a good deal of the bigotry yourself.

I guess a nice invention could be a real life block function like on most forums. Of course, I could end up blocking someone who might try to save my life later by warning me I'm about to get ran over by a buss or something.

Rikimaru_X

A sleep machine like in Chrono Trigger. In five seconds you will get a full 8 hour sleep (yet get a little hungry as a side effect) and think how much that would make lives better...and how much you would have in your pocket.

IIRL

A biological weapon that only kills human which is capable of reaching every corner of the world.



I doubt I would press the button that would initiate the ultimate genocide though since there are some movies, series, drugs, women and games I would like to experience before doing so.

albinofreak

Originally posted by Draenor

Originally posted by Gameloading

An invention that would:



1: Disprove every religion out there.



OR



2: Disprive science, and all but one religion.



That would unite earth, and we can finally set our most dangerous diffrences aside.

Congrats on being the second person that I have blocked on these forums...I can take ignorance and intolerance to a point, but you take the cake...your sheer lack of knowledge regarding the Bible has shown on many occasions, and even when you are told by someone who knows more than you, you persist in your attacks on Christianity and religion on general.  People like you are the reason that atheists are the most distrusted people in the United States, your bigotry is rivaled by very few, congratulations on being the pinnacle of hypocrisy.  Considering Atheists are some of the loudest people when it comes to pointing out intolerance in religions, you sure do a good job of dishing out a good deal of the bigotry yourself.

ps.  In order for your invention to prove anything, it would need to find a way to invent itself...I love a good paradox.

The reason athiests are the most distrusted people in the United States is because people have mistakenly associated religion with morality, and believe that you cant be moral without religion.

But as for a device that disproves all the religions/disproves science (how is that possible, considering that science is more of a process than an overall philosophy?) or proving one religion... how would that help? It wouldnt. For instance, lets say your device proves that ummm Islam is the proper religion and eveyrone became Islamic. You'd have people interpreting the religion in different ways all over the world and we'd just have a world full of Islamists who maybe believed in similar things, but they'd fight over those small things anyway. For instance, the Judeo-Christian faiths arent too different, and the various Christian sects are based on the same thing but a Catholic is definitely not the same as a Protestant.

Killing religion won't solve the worlds problems. C'mon... didnt you see South Park's Future Wars thing?

hazmats

a device that makes me omnipotent and all powerful. Then i could just kill all the evil folks in the world and solve any general world problems.

albinofreak

But how would you decide who was evil? For instance, in my opinion someone who shoots an abortion doctor is evil, yet in the abortion doctors point of view I am evil. Would you kill us both because we are both evil? But I dont think there is anyone in the world that no one would say is evil. And if you killed everyone... wouldnt that make you a murderer and therefore evil in at least one person's opinion? Then wouldnt you have to kill yourself? But you are all powerful, so you cant be killed. But would that mean you would have to be powerful enough to kill yourself. This would probably undo existence so I dont think that a machine to make you all powerful would be a good one.

Rreka'al

An unkillable supervirus engineered to infect a human host and kill it, but then dies peacefully after the human is dead. This might not save us, but it would save everything else.

Xexima

wax paper.



mmmm chicken.























if you don't understand, you need to catch up on your mel brooks.

Draenor

Originally posted by albinofreak


The reason athiests are the most distrusted people in the United States is because people have mistakenly associated religion with morality, and believe that you cant be moral without religion.
But as for a device that disproves all the religions/disproves science (how is that possible, considering that science is more of a process than an overall philosophy?) or proving one religion... how would that help? It wouldnt. For instance, lets say your device proves that ummm Islam is the proper religion and eveyrone became Islamic. You'd have people interpreting the religion in different ways all over the world and we'd just have a world full of Islamists who maybe believed in similar things, but they'd fight over those small things anyway. For instance, the Judeo-Christian faiths arent too different, and the various Christian sects are based on the same thing but a Catholic is definitely not the same as a Protestant.
Killing religion won't solve the worlds problems. C'mon... didnt you see South Park's Future Wars thing?

Actually the reason that I tend to not be very trustful of atheists is because I feel that it's one of the most illogical and senseless conclusions that a person can come to regarding our existance.  That reason alone is enough to make me believe that despite some very bright atheists when it comes to math and science, they lack the common sense answer to our origin, whether you subscribe to Christianity or Islam, or any other religion becomes irrelevent to me at that point.  Like I said, his invention couldn't possibly prove atheism to be true unless he could find a way to make his invention make itself, because that is what atheists believe, a Universe that made itself.

Kyoruto

Uncorrectable perfect communism. Not the Stalen or Mou Je Dong communism.

albinofreak

Originally posted by Draenor

Originally posted by albinofreak


The reason athiests are the most distrusted people in the United States is because people have mistakenly associated religion with morality, and believe that you cant be moral without religion.
But as for a device that disproves all the religions/disproves science (how is that possible, considering that science is more of a process than an overall philosophy?) or proving one religion... how would that help? It wouldnt. For instance, lets say your device proves that ummm Islam is the proper religion and eveyrone became Islamic. You'd have people interpreting the religion in different ways all over the world and we'd just have a world full of Islamists who maybe believed in similar things, but they'd fight over those small things anyway. For instance, the Judeo-Christian faiths arent too different, and the various Christian sects are based on the same thing but a Catholic is definitely not the same as a Protestant.
Killing religion won't solve the worlds problems. C'mon... didnt you see South Park's Future Wars thing?

Actually the reason that I tend to not be very trustful of atheists is because I feel that it's one of the most illogical and senseless conclusions that a person can come to regarding our existance.  That reason alone is enough to make me believe that despite some very bright atheists when it comes to math and science, they lack the common sense answer to our origin, whether you subscribe to Christianity or Islam, or any other religion becomes irrelevent to me at that point.  Like I said, his invention couldn't possibly prove atheism to be true unless he could find a way to make his invention make itself, because that is what atheists believe, a Universe that made itself.

They lack the "common sense" to explain creation (even though there is explanation of our origins; big bang created the universe and we know what happened since then) because scientific, rational thought works as follows; I form a hypothesis, I test this hypothesis, my hypothesis is either found to be true or false. For example, "Will it hurt if I put my hand on the stove?" Yes, it will hurt if I put my hand on the stove. I put my hand on the stove and burn my hand. Yes, my hypothesis was right. Now, the experiment is also repeatable. I will never put my hand on a hot stove and not get burned.

Another element is that you cant do something such as this; flowers grow in my garden. Why do flowers grow in my garden? My hypothesis is that if I put seeds in the ground they will grow. I perform the experiment, but the flowers dont grow. I conclude that the only answer is that magical elves from Azaroth came to my house with Santa and sucked the souls from my seeds to fuel their war effort against the Sith Lords of Endor.

You arrive at athiesm much the same way. Your hypothesis is God. We cant prove that God exists. Therefore we cant say that God exists. He very well may exist and anyone is free to think that He exists, but you cannot say that He rationally exists. Like my above statement regarding the stove, "Does God exist?" I hypothesize that He does exist. .... this is where the experiment ends because there is no way to test God's existence. Therefore there is no way to repeat experiments of Him.

I agree... you cant say "God doesnt exist." Any person following the thought I laid out above cant really say that. It is ambivalent at best. But we dont need to explain our origins in a metaphysical way to be honest... many religions dont even explain creation but instead say that we've always existed and there was no beginning of time. Would you call them lacking in common sense because their religion doesnt explain the beginnings of time?

There's really no point in this discussion. Both you and whoever it is you were fighting with are both very narrow minded and unwilling to admit that the other side has benefits. Religion is obviously something that mankind needs because all societies have some form of religion. Perhaps the big modern religions arent very attractive right now, but perhaps you should do some searching and maybe piece some things together and find your own metaphysical beliefs. However, God doesnt explain how anything happened and science can and does. Do you like modern medicine? Modern technology? You owe these things to scientific thought.

I hope you do not think I am against religion. I am not a very spiritual person, however I do believe in the possibility of a creator who created all the laws of existence that science observes (Deism) and as a person studying the social sciences I find religion an interesting topic of study and there have been some positives to religion throughout history (for example, the Civil Rights movement had a base in religion, Ghandi's non-violent resistance came from religion, etc), but people doing things in the name of God have been pretty horrible. Now, I know you get angry when athiests are non-tolerant of religious types, but rare indeed has it been that athiests have committed genocide, engaged in war to spread their beliefs, etc.