Our Current Human Population is Unsustainable
All attempts to address the effects of human-induced climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and environmental pollution will utterly fail without a substantial reduction in human population.
The only acceptable method to reduce human population will require a substantial number of people opting for one child or no children.
Those of us alive today are burning through the Earth’s natural resources and polluting the environment (our environment) with toxic substances at a rate that is unsustainable for another one or two generations let alone a hundred. This aspect of overpopulation doesn’t get enough attention, and is exactly why our current population is an existential threat that must be addressed immediately and decisively by all nations of the Earth.
We Have Too Many Pets
The number of dogs and cats and other pets worldwide is exacerbating the effects of human overpopulation significantly.
All Nuclear Weapons Need to Be Eliminated
The effects of using even a single nuclear weapon—let alone a multitude of them—are so horrific that there is no possible justification for ever using them. There is no possible justification for using a weapon that indiscriminately kills millions of people and subjects many millions more to unimaginable suffering. The more nuclear weapons there are in the world, the greater the likelihood of one being used by accident or through miscalculation, terrorism, or madness. Even a highly improbable event will eventually happen, given enough time. We must rid the entire world of nuclear weapons as soon as possible. The focus needs to be on both nuclear disarmament and protecting human life by stopping nuclear weapons before they reach their intended target.
Let’s look at a hypothetical but perfectly plausible situation. The President of the United States is told that one or more nuclear weapons are heading towards the United States. This may or may not be true, and the President has only a few seconds or maybe a minute or two to make a decision. The only sane response would be to minimize the total loss of human life and, yes, that includes non-Americans, too. Every attempt must be made to intercept the incoming nuclear weapons to disable or destroy them (that response should begin even before the President is notified), and no nuclear weapons should ever be launched in a counterstrike. Saving innocent human lives is more important than saving any government or regime.
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Needs to be Repealed and Replaced
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enacted in 1791. Much has changed since then! As written, the amendment is too general and does not take into account current realities of gun ownership and use.
The current interpretation of the Second Amendment is a moral and humanistic abomination.
Michael Moore has proposed a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution which should seriously be considered, at least as a starting point.
We Need Binding International Laws
Globally, we must work toward establishing a global “super-government” that enacts and enforces binding international laws that are in the best interest of all the world’s peoples. Individual nations will have to give up some sovereignty in order to effectively address global threats such as nuclear weapons, warfare, human rights violations, pandemics, climate change, pollution, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, cybercriminality, and, yes, the proliferation of Earth-orbiting satellites. Whether the United Nations can be strengthened to serve in this role or a new organization created will need to be explored.
There is No Evidence for the Existence of God
Why does the world have thousands of religions? Why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people? The most sensible explanation is that religion is entirely a human creation based on basic human wants and needs and that there are no supernatural forces actively present in our daily lives.
The greatest of all mysteries is why does our universe exist and how did it come into being? Religion tries to answer these questions, of course, but I think it more likely that our intellect (as amazing as it is) is incapable of fully comprehending these questions let alone the answers. We have only our empirical knowledge of our world (and the universe) and our moral pragmatism (humanism) to guide us.
There is No Evidence for the Existence of an Afterlife
Regarding immortality, since we have no consciousness of anything before we were born, why should we expect that we would have any consciousness of anything after we die? To me, that is the most tragic fact of human existence. Within a few minutes (or hours, if extraordinary measures are taken) after death occurs, all of our knowledge and experience—our memories—everything that makes us who we are—is irretrievably lost. All that remains of us are the artifacts we have left behind (writing, music, art, etc.) and the memories of those who are still living who knew us. After all the people who knew us personally have died, then all that remains of our existence are artifacts. And, sooner or later, all of those will be gone, too. This truly emphasizes the importance of this life, of this world, of this time. How we live our lives and treat others today, tomorrow, and the next day are of paramount importance. It is all we have, or will ever have.
Not believing in God and not believing in an afterlife is incredibly liberating, and allows us to see our world and our lives through less varnished eyes.
