Social Question

Aesthetic_Mess's avatar

Do you think the world would be a better place if we all liked the same things?

Asked by Aesthetic_Mess (7894points) October 1st, 2010
26 responses
“Great Question” (1points)

Don’t say it would be boring, because we wouldn’t notice

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Answers

Fyrius's avatar

It would sure be easier to create a Utopia together if we did.

Cruiser's avatar

There is not enough chocolate cake and wheat beer to go around if we did.

Fyrius's avatar

@Cruiser
But we’d have resources to spare from the sauerkraut and grapefruit industries that we could instead invest in chocolate and wheat beer.

stardust's avatar

No. It’d surely be easier, but if we all liked the same things we’d never have to challenge one another. We wouldn’t have to question our thoughts, our beliefs, etc. In that sense there’d be less of a desire for personal growth.
Ultimately, our differences of opinion, beliefs, thoughts, desires, etc, etc. are what move us & challenge us as a society.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

That world would completely suck. Differences are what make life worth living.

john65pennington's avatar

Your question is similar to travel on the interstate system. if every vehicle traveled at exactly 70 mph, traffic would come to a halt. variety is the spice of life. this is the reason they make chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream. we are all different.

Cruiser's avatar

@Fyrius And then would there enough landfill space for all the unwanted brusselsprouts and meatloaf?

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

For the record, I like sauerkraut, grapefruit, brussel sprouts, meatloaf, and beer.

Aesthetic_Mess's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe I have never had a brussel sprout. What do they taste like?

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@Aesthetic_Mess That’s one of the toughest taste to describe. They have to be small and fresh. It’s kind of a combination of cabbage, spinach, asparagus, and broccoli.

Blackberry's avatar

Well, yes and no. It depends on the population, type of government etc.

Cruiser's avatar

@Aesthetic_Mess Suck on an old gym sock that is what Brussel sprouts taste like.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@Aesthetic_Mess Don’t believe cruiser. They’re very good. Very complex and rich.
@Cruiser LMAO

Frenchfry's avatar

No.. It would be boring as hell.

Cruiser's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe All the butter and cheese in the world and they still taste like very complex and rich gym socks! XD

Winters's avatar

YAY UTOPIA!!! And mindless zombies everywhere…

Frenchfry's avatar

Just for the record I’ll skip the brussel sprouts. They give me gas.

misstrikcy's avatar

Easier..? Possibly. Not sure can you say that we wouldn’t notice how dull it would be… some of us would be climbing the walls.
Everyone liking the same things doesn’t stop us getting bored…

CMaz's avatar

Yea, I like that idea.
Everyone farting at the dinner table.

And, no. Because without individually we would just be animals roaming the earth looking for food and mating.

Oh wait, we do that already.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

OK since I derailed this thread, back to which is going to make the world a better place: Do we want everything the same or do we prefer diversity? I guess if everyones farting at the table it’s not diversity.

CMaz's avatar

Sure it is. A different smell with ever toot.

Next thing you know, there will be debate over who has the most unique smelling fart.
Then others will emulate it and we are right back to where we started.

Fyrius's avatar

@Winters
Oh, come on, now. Differences in tastes have nothing to do with how much we think for ourselves.
That only goes for opinions and beliefs.

YARNLADY's avatar

@Fyrius Sorry, but I have to disagree with that. If everyone likes washing clothes on rocks at the river edge, no one will ever invent the washing machine.

If everyone like to sleep from sundown to sunup, no one will every think of going to the stars.

Even speaking different languages leads to different ways of thinking about something. For instance, the way to create words and meanings in German is different from the way we do it in American English.

Also, the only way for everyone to like the same things is for everyone to know everyone, and no one live in an area where the food and climate is different. If everyone lived in a canyon with a stream through it and they liked staying home, they would never discover the wide open plains or ocean shore.

Fyrius's avatar

@YARNLADY
“Sorry, but I have to disagree with that. If everyone likes washing clothes on rocks at the river edge, no one will ever invent the washing machine.
If everyone like to sleep from sundown to sunup, no one will every think of going to the stars.”
Well, why would everyone liking the same things have to mean they all like those particular things, and not more productive things?
If nobody would like washing on rocks and everybody would love exploring and working together to solve the big problems, the human species could advance so much faster.
See below.

“Even speaking different languages leads to different ways of thinking about something. For instance, the way to create words and meanings in German is different from the way we do it in American English.”
Not really. The idea that a different language causes a different view on the world is a myth that has been thoroughly debunked.
Steven Pinker gave an excellent summary of the case in his book, The Language Instinct. I’ll summarise his points if you want a brief version of the details.

Secondly, given that the only differences lost would be in the language itself, the world would definitely be a better place if everyone could understand each other. We’re already starting to glimpse a future with one world-wide lingua franca – just yesterday I talked to a Chinese and to an Israeli person in English, even though none of us knew the other person’s mother tongue. Isn’t that amazing? I think that’s amazing.
Though I’m also a language nerd and I’d be bored if there were just one language. But I probably also wouldn’t be a language nerd any more.

Thirdly, what does language have to do with anything? This is about what people like, not how they talk.

“Also, the only way for everyone to like the same things is for everyone to know everyone, and no one live in an area where the food and climate is different. If everyone lived in a canyon with a stream through it and they liked staying home, they would never discover the wide open plains or ocean shore.”
You’re still assuming a whole lot of things that aren’t given…
Another way for everyone to like the same things is through genetic engineering and putting a stop to natural genetic mutation. That way we could even pick what things the new humans will like. There would be terrible ethical issues with engineering people like that, but if we were to do it, none of the problems you mentioned need arise at all. They could be made to all love hard work, exploration, investigation and types of food that are healthy and guaranteed not to run out.

YARNLADY's avatar

@Fyrius great response, thank you I already read that the Eskimo/snow thing was debunked, but not the entire idea.

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