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Humanity can't be fixed, will always be selfish, greedy, discriminating against other people who differ enough, since a bunch of these things are pretty much hard coded. You might not be, some people you know might not be - but statistically, the majority of humanity will happily watch others get oppressed (or worse) for various reasons. There will always be people who manipulate others for power/wealth, disregarding law, morals or the environment, and there will always be a fuckton of gullible/dumb/mean people who happily buy the propaganda for reasons above.
Therefore, no matter what kind of society you try to form, with enough time we will get back to where we are now, and humanity will never be able to break out of this downward spiral, due to its inherent fault.
...which leads to my main controversial opinion, based on the above: the only cure to the mass extinction and the worsening climate happening today is the eradication of the human species. Yes, it would be such a shame saying goodbye to all the great things we have achieved, dad jokes, poetry, the Backstreet Boys; all this means nothing if everything dies on a scorching/freezing planet. At least if we take out humanity, other forms of life could survive, and life as we know it isn't really found on every other planet.
Obviously there will be nothing wiping the human race off of the face of the Earth, and if it somehow ever disappears, it will be by its own doing - but chances are that will also take all other forms of life with it.
Looking at all the awful things humans have been doing to each other, all the pollution, all the ignorance, all the destruction, I wouldn't hesitate a bit if there was a red button in front of me that could magically make them disappear (including me, of course). In the blink of an eye. I would slam down on it as fast as I can.
Hmm. I guess I don't necessarily disagree with your premise... But maybe your value judgment.
Does the suffering humanity inflicts/ experiences outweigh the joy/ love/ happiness humanity causes/ experiences?
And, I guess personally, I don't weight all life equally. I value more complex life as more valuable. I care about a dolphin more than a stink bug. I think humanity's ability to evaluate itself and reason is precious and rare, certainly in the history of the planet, potentially in the universe. Even if humanity can never really improve its disposition to be more compassionate or less greedy, why put out the light of a complex mind experiencing and observing itself?
Ultimately, what has value to you?
Humanity's evil is a scaling problem. We do pretty well until we're in a society that's big enough that everybody doesn't know everybody else.
I've been in school long enough to tell you that knowing people might not prevent some from being awful.
That's correct, some people are pieces of shit regardless. But if everyone is looking out for everyone else, those people are shunned pretty quickly.
I agree with you, but this takes us back to square 1 : ).
It has to be a small enough group. In a small enough group, the assholes will be cast out. Hence, the scaling problem. it doesn't get rid of assholes completely, it makes them unable to cause as much harm.
Something I've been wondering lately, you know with all this CRISPR stuff -- maybe we can identify the genetic defect that causes this overbearing greed and engineer a virus to eradicate it
I'm sure that type of behaviour is a good mix of nature and nurture. Maybe certain genetics can make one predisposed to it, but I'd bet social conditioning probably holds a significantly greater influence.
I wish it was that simple! Turning on/off some sequences (it might not be the correct term) might actually affect other things, as well.