Is peace possible?

This is an honest question. Do you believe peace is something that can be achieved by humans?

Or are there too many conflicting obstacles?

What do you feel is the biggest obstacle amongst people coming together? Ethnicity? Religion? Politics? Avarice?

The biggest obstacle is humans.

Religion, politics, and racism were all created by humans. Take them away and we'll find something else to fight about. It's in our nature.

No, never. It's human nature to quarrel with one another.

Aren't we all just beast with big brains - Agent Mulder

As long as humanity exists, there is always going to be one or two lunatics wanting to do harm for whatever reason.

Pretty much everything that's been said so far.

To be honest. We need conflict. There's no "peace" without conflict. There's no good without bad. There's no right without wrong. Everything would be boring if those I mentioned didn't have a counter part.

Nope

It's Just

If you lobotomize everyone.

Also Ants, Bees, Wasps, Termites, all other hive insects and predatory pack animals that also engage in warfare over territory. Just because they don't have to use tools doesn't mean its not war. Ants even have suicide bombers and chemical weapons, lions and hyenas will kill each other on site and just leave the bodies where they drop as a warning to others even when both have plenty of food and territory.

Hell even some kinds of plants kill. The only way there will ever be total world peace is when life ceases to exist here.

@i_like_swords: I can't say I agree with that last sentence. Is boredom really more important than a life without murder and rape?

Or maybe boredom isn't the word you were looking for??

It's just... chh chhchh chh chhchh chh chhchh chh chhchh...?

Well.. it's hard for me to put into words, but I'll try.

Imagnie a world where murder and rape never existed, and they were in eternal peace. Do you think that world would everyday fully appreciate the fact they live in that type of world? Of course not. They'd get up and walk out their house into the perfect world where everyone gets along, and there is no form of conflict whatsoever. They don't mind speaking to anyone because there is no risk of conflict. They don't mind making a mistake because there is no risk of conflict. In fact, their life would be so peaceful that everyday would go perfectly for them... or would it?

I mean can you imagine a world with no risks? A world where everyones a friend? Where arguments don't take place? Where nobody has a reason to get angry? Where nobody has a cause to fight for? Where everyone is on the same page?

We'd all be the same essentially. Everyone would have the same moral values. Everyone would behave the same way. Everything would be so good, that there would be no concept of good. There would be no good, no bad, no peace, no war, no love, no hate, just neutrality.

Now, you're probably thinking, that us as a human race would appreciate that world a lot more considering we've gone through conflict in many forms. So, say we do get to a point where all conflict has ceased. Then what? There's nothing to fight for. No competition. Nothing that could possibly go wrong.

Sure, maybe it lasts a while. But once all of the people who lived during that time of peace die, history will inevitably repeat itself. People will find things to fight over. People will define things as right and wrong, good and bad. People will again understand what peace is because they have known conflict.

We need the right balance of good and bad as a human race, because neither one exists without the other, and we always will have that balance.

There is still natural disasters storms, earthquakes and the like. That dern ocean keeps pounding away at the land everyday eating it away. :p

@joshmightbe: Pretty irrelevant. Most animals fight for food, territory, and survival. Humans tend to fight out of sheer hatred for one another.

No. Same concept as crime, when you are there stopping a robbery a mile away a man will be beating his wife. True peace can never happen.

The closest thing humanity will get to peace apathy.

There will never be peace. It is a fact. People will always cause chaos and confusion. It is a fact. The only way to get peace is through death.

@awesam: Its actually been pretty well proven that Lions will attack hyenas when they aren't provoked or in danger, ants will invade other colonies for no other reason than to make slave labor out of the rival colony, also all human wars are for something other than hate, hate is often used as an excuse but its always done for territory, profit or to eliminate competition which are the exact reasons troupes of Chimps or baboons will attack each other, just change out money for food and its pretty much the same the only difference is that human arrogance forces us to pretend its for some higher goal. The only difference between humans and other animals is that we're better armed.

I can't say that I agree with this. This becomes fallacious in nature because we're simply conditioned to deal with the harsh reality of this world. The world doesn't need to be perfect for it to be peaceful. People just need to learn to be less crappy.

Peace doesn't translate to mindlessness. Competition can still occur without there being conflict, there is such a thing as healthy competition. We could still all work towards common goals. To think that the only real purpose humanity could hope to have is to be in constant conflict is silly. It also isn't necessary for people to be all the same either, we could simply learn to coexist - learn to accept that your ideals don't need to coincide with the ideals of others.

I think it would be like retaining the innocence of a child throughout your entire life, or at least most of it. The only reason why we mostly have a pessimistic outlook on life is because that innocence is slowly crushed over time, and some people are unlucky enough to have it crushed all at once.

However, the reality is that peace is not likely to ever happen, people are very set in their ways, and there are some who would rather see everything burn than for things to change for the better. It's a little bit saddening to be honest, but alas, that's just life.

That's just my take on it though.

@joshmightbe: Ahhh, but we do kill out of hate. Religious wars, genocides, etc.

@awesam: Which historically always end up being about territory, profit or eliminating rivals. The Crusades were claimed to be a religious war but in truth it was an excuse for European nobles and church officials to create a foothold in the middle east due to access to the very valuable trade routes to Asia that the "Holy Land" happened to be sitting in the middle of at the time, the Salem witch trials turned out to basically be a real estate scam because wealthy land owners would accuse people who refused to sell their land of being witches and when they were almost invariably found guilty these men would swoop in and take over their land without having to pay for it.

@joshmightbe: For the leaders, but not for the people. Most wars, genocides, etc, are started for the sake of self-interest, of course. The people behind it all do it for profit or self-interest in general. But the people below. The ones doing all the fighting. The soldiers, "terrorists", etc. They are the ones who do it on personal beliefs.

Peace will be acquired when every humans are going to be dead

@awesam: Most soldiers aren't fighting for some grand cause, most fight because that's their job, or because their leaders will have them killed if they don't. Over zealous suicide bombers and people trying to Martyr themselves aren't soldiers their just crazy people that the leaders took advantage of.

@joshmightbe: Although most likely brainwashed, people do fight out of hate. Plus, this thread is about humans, not ants.

No. Peace is something that can never be achieved by humans. Violence,competitiveness,Bigotry,hatred,is hard encoded into our DNA. Chaos is the nature of the universe. There will always be yin and yang. And i don't think you can have peace without apathy.

@awesam: That's true but the thought that humans are the only creatures that have war is in itself pure human arrogance.

World peace is possible, some day. But if you want no conflict at all you'd have to do some very terrible things to get it.

@joshmightbe: Who said that? I didn't say that. I don't recall anyone saying that.

No. Humans will never find peace, for as long as humans exist there will always be hatred and conflict.

Fun fact: Dolphins kill for fun.

Highly doubtful.

there will NEVER EVER be peace.

Ridiculous statement. You can't prove the universe won't explode at some point.

I believe the answer is: no.

No, it would be very difficult to achieve peace because hatred is apart of human nature and even if we were to stop some of the wars and racism from happening, there will always be a new conflict that will be started up.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

We've made significant progress. The creation of the EU ended the seemingly endless cycle of European wars. The invention of the nuclear bomb ended the seemingly endless cycle of clashing superpowers. Violence has been pushed downward into smaller and smaller forms. As bad as terrorism is it is nowhere near as destructive as the kinds of violence that have been frequent in the past.

So is 'peace' possible? That depends on how you define peace, but I would say we're making rapid and powerful progress.

@mysterioususername: everybody dead/no-longer-existing doesnt count. .......... ha ha.... ha.

Not in the Christian threads, apparently. Some of those guys would throw ya to the lions!

You took my waffles!

Yes, peace is absolutely possible and I believe this with every bit of my intellect. Intellect -- you know -- that ability us humans have which can determine the path we choose as a species?

Apathy is lazy and this tired trumpeting of humanity being savage at its base proves what? The pointing to histories books full of wars indicates what? A text book of how to war monger or maybe - just maybe -- a textbook of what to avoid? We - as a species - -are becoming more and more inclusive -- we are improving. All I have read (excluding a couple of posts which should be obvious) is unsubstantiated opinion -- really -- it's all unsubstantiated because pointing to our past proves more my stand on things, rather than the other because we are documenting these conflicts. To learn from them and attempt to not repeat them.

Do the Americans in this thread want to conquer the entire world? The English? The Turkish, Indian, Brazilian?

This is a deeply complex question but it has an extremely simple answer. Yes, of course peace is possible. We will get there. There are obstacles but they are surmountable -- have been surmounted by more and more countries which have democracy as a base for their governments and with this comes education, equality, expectation of human dignity and respect for all human beings. We practice and support and encourage this, we will achieve peace. A mutually agreed, fair and beneficial peace.

No -- I am not some tambourine shaking, bare-foot tree-hugger that stuffs flowers into the rifles of police and soldiers. I am taking advantage of my fortune of being born in a country that allows me to gain as much education as I can in relative safety and with that tool, wield it in some way -- maybe small, hopefully big in the future to make a difference in achieving this peace. I respect the opinion this is an impossibility and I respect the decision people make in focusing only on their families, cities, states, provinces, countries, unions. I strongly disagree with that mindset but it is what it is. Just get the hell out of my way and let me and others like me do what we can to at least try to get there quicker -- don't hinder us with your cynicism and conscience relieving apathy.

I won't bother responding to people who disagree with me. This is why I breathe every day and it's sacrosanct so there is no debating it for me. There isn't anything you could possibly send my way that I haven't heard ad nauseam, from all walks of life -- really -- nothing has convinced me I am wrong and nothing has discouraged me and although you might doubt this -- I listened to each person with an open mind.

That's it.

TL;DR -- Yep, I do believe peace is possible.

*scribbles out invitation for dinner for two*

Do I believe peace it possible? No I think it's a fools dream but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep striving for it.

Complete world peace? No.

Can the world be way better than it is now? Yes.

I said I WASN'T a tambourine shaking, bare-foot tree-hugger that stuffs flowers into the rifles of police and soldiers...

Is peace possible? Yes, but highly improbable.

You think I'm not into that?