The ultimate goal of Humanist Maximalism is to obtain maximal happiness for humanity in terms of quality of life and percentage of the global population that is effected. If this goal were reached, 100% of humans would be extremely happy.
Because this primary goal is very likely impossible, a secondary goal must be introduced. Namely, that the maximum amount of improvement towards the primary goal must be realized.
Here are a few examples of what a Human Maximalist would attempt to accomplish:
Because of this, it is most helpful to attempt to make as much progress towards each of these goals as is humanly possible.
As a Human Maximalist, I hope to develop and carry out strategies to make as much progress as I can towards making as many people as possible as happy as I can make them.
Because this primary goal is very likely impossible, a secondary goal must be introduced. Namely, that the maximum amount of improvement towards the primary goal must be realized.
Here are a few examples of what a Human Maximalist would attempt to accomplish:
- End poverty
- End slavery
- End war
- Modify human society such that we won't destroy our environment
- Provide education to everyone who wants it
Because of this, it is most helpful to attempt to make as much progress towards each of these goals as is humanly possible.
As a Human Maximalist, I hope to develop and carry out strategies to make as much progress as I can towards making as many people as possible as happy as I can make them.
Important question: What if you have to take away people's liberties or property in order to minimize poverty, war, and environmental destruction? It seems like a lot of these goals can be achieved more directly if you put a smart person in charge as opposed to letting people act as they see fit.
ReplyDelete-MJG
Hello!
ReplyDeleteWhat you bring up here is starting to get into the strategy portion of Humanist Maximalism. There is always a tradeoff when it comes to personal liberty. Sometimes we limit freedom to prevent crime, for example.
I'm not sure what the best strategy would be yet. If we got one person who was just amazing, and put him/her in charge of everything, we might make more progress. I have not thought about this in depth. (What I do know is that a lot of people would accuse this person of being the antichrist, haha.)
A lot of our decision making concerning strategy depends on whether or not God exists. If he does, then the strategy is radically different than if he does not. Also, if God exists, the goal is no longer that of Humanist Maximalism, but whatever the higher being decides the goal is. For example, if YHWH exists, then the goal is not to make as many people as happy as possible, but to glorify YHWH.
If a God does not exist (or I could say, in the absence of a sun), we are all individual lights burning with our own desires and moralities. In this scenario, if there were a person who had a self-decided goal that was similar to Humanist Maximalism, and this person was in charge of a global government, a lot of progress could be made.
This would depend on what kind of person the leader is, and on the response of the followers.
Well, I went all over the place in this response. I hope you found it interesting. =D
-JTS