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What's the most important problem in the world that one can work on? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago by boramalper@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Cross-posting a 2023 Hacker News thread:

Everyone has different perspectives and values, so what do you personally think is the most important problem in the world right now? Is it something that one, or a group of early enthusiasts, can work on?

The original quote is from Aaron Swartz:

Life is short (or so I’m told) so why waste it doing something dumb? It’s easy to start working on something because it’s convenient, but you should always be questioning yourself about it. Is there something more important you can work on? Why don’t you do that instead? Such questions are hard to face up to (eventually, if you follow this rule, you’ll have to ask yourself why you’re not working on the most important problem in the world) but each little step makes you more productive.

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[–] Aequitas@feddit.org 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Capitalism is by far the biggest problem facing the planet. It is also the root cause of many other problems, such as war and climate change. But the associated problem that everyone can work on is a lack of class consciousness. Step 1: Educate yourself about the principles of exploitation in capitalism. Step 2: Educate others.

[–] boramalper@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

And for the sake of completeness, what resources would you recommend to a beginner?

[–] Aequitas@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Ah, David Harvey's Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism is very good for beginners. Alternatively, there are also some good videos. For example, Richard Wolff - The Game is Rigged.

[–] DeepSpace9mm@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

I started by asking myself, who have the capitalists revealed, through words and deeds, to be their greatest enemies? Then I started trying to understand those conflicts which made me realize that some of the people I was scared to listen to are actually intelligent, well-read, and earnest.