World at threshold of uncontrollable fury
It has been centuries since the dawn of scientific and technological growth in the world — a moment that brought humanity safety, comfort, and ease, reducing the burdens of life. Yet, at the same time, it has cast a shadow of worry. A shadow filled with words like unrest, warfare, displacement, and perhaps many others. Since the beginning of scientific and technological advancements, which also brought the creation of wealth, the alphabet of politics gradually formed. An alphabet that perhaps spelled out, “Comfort for me, welfare for me, economy for me,” and other forms of selfishness. The combination of selfishness, wealth, and technology slowly opened the path toward expanding geographical borders, where military weapons became the tools of this expansion, along with selfishness, greed, and tyranny. Somewhere along the political spectrum, each of us witnessed how a mixture of money, power, modern technology, and selfishness leads to war, bloodshed, and displacement. The cries of children were unheard by politicians and, perhaps alongside painful groans, were forever silenced. This cry may have belonged to a child who would have undoubtedly possessed a brilliant mind, which with proper guidance, could have one day solved some of the most complex problems faced by humanity on Earth. But today, we are witnessing the stockpiling of gunpowder in most of the world’s powerful territories. The reason for this accumulation of gunpowder on Earth stems from the lack of trust among humans. The illusion — or perhaps foresight — that if I (or my country) do not possess something, my fellow human (another country) might, and they might attack me. Therefore, everyone hoarded gunpowder and weapons, with part of their minds always occupied with developing better arms, until we arrived at weapons of mass destruction like the atomic bomb. Even if no one attacked me (or my country), the groundwork was laid for my (or my successors’) adventurism, to be the instigator. This instigation, if not controlled, will lead to the annihilation of every individual on this planet — a peak catastrophe.
By Mohsen Anjom Shoa
Guest contributor
The destruction of humanity on Earth should not result from fratricide, for if we annihilate one another, where then is the place for reason and intellect? There are countless uncontrollable ways for humanity’s extinction, many of which mankind has somewhat controlled through science and technology. Therefore, to prevent killing one another, too, we must find solutions. It is undeniable that, up to this moment, mankind has been the highest form of creation, distinguished by intellect, reason, and discernment from other living beings. But where does humanity stand in the midst of all this?
A world devoid of wrath and war is something the inhabitants of Earth will achieve through the implementation of human-centric equations. Humanity and humanism are a blend of kindness, beauty, honesty, and trust, which make humans feel safe with one another. One of the outcomes of this is the spread of compassion and kindness, with the highest form being the nurturing love of a mother for her child. In the present era, as science and technology advance at an extraordinary pace, if humans do not feel secure and peaceful in each other’s presence and continue to entertain thoughts of eliminating one another, surely, in the near future, they will strive to showcase their scientific prowess in the field of weaponry and arms. This pursuit of superiority might leave behind ashes of a kind never before seen in any war.
Humanism a way out
In the midst of this, it is humanism that can enhance compassion among people and ensure peaceful coexistence, always providing goodness and tranquility for the creatures of Earth in every sphere. Looking back, we can see that in the equations of politics (with few exceptions in peaceful times), we have constantly witnessed unrest and war between humans. This has brought consequences such as the displacement and slaughter of children and people, the violation of geographical borders, the destruction of socio-economic infrastructure, and many other issues. During such times, we have seen the expansion of arms industries, whereas, if we hadn’t harbored such belligerent attitudes toward one another, we could have focused more on other fields, and surely the daily problems of humanity would have been resolved more swiftly. The production of weapons and the growth of arms factories have stemmed from a lack of trust among humans.
The greatest justification for the existence of weapons in politics is the argument of self-defense, whether for individuals or nations. From a non-humanistic perspective, they are also used for attacks, but within the domain of humanism, there is no place for them — not even for defense. This is because, in the realm of humanity, it is thoughtfulness, wisdom, and human altruism that hold the highest value. In fact, in the equations of humanism, the Earth is a limitless geography filled with bridges of kindness, where all humans live together in one safe domain to achieve comprehensive growth. Not only is there no place for war and weapons, but the universe itself becomes an integrated and secure foundation for the growth and flourishing of every single human idea, and a space for the peaceful coexistence of all.
In the world of politics, the issue is not the existence of ignorant individuals, but rather that everyone, wherever they stand, believes they are the wisest person and the savior of humanity without having knowledge, awareness, or years of study under their belt. Over the past hundred years, we have followed a path called “politics,” and we have seen its results: a mixture of very good virtues and very bad vices, either concentrated or scattered.
Let’s change the path because continuing the previous one will only lead to the same old results. Although today’s politicians strive to eliminate the negative outcomes of their decisions, the structure of politics is such that some results are often unexpected and unpredictable. However, if we change course today, we will undoubtedly see a different outcome. Let’s replace the path of politics with the path of humanism. On this path, let us take a compassionate view toward all human aspects and all inhabitants of Earth, regardless of their color, race, language, or religion.
“The only thing that can save a human is another human” — but only if there is a commitment to humanity. Perhaps humanity may lose to politics, but humanity does not lose to itself because politics is about self-interest, while humanity is about caring for others. A humanistic perspective is one that shows kindness toward the basic needs of every person and promotes the flourishing of humans in every field. It ensures welfare, security, health, economy, and mental peace for every individual, ultimately aiming for a world without war and bloodshed.
The correct path in this universe is to stand beside humanity and humanism. One of the outcomes of war and bloodshed between humans is that when a war leads to the death of a single person, it ultimately destroys a thinking mind. If we consider every human as possessing a thoughtful mind and if humanism can protect each person by keeping them safe from war, violence, disease, and other harms, it will in fact be safeguarding a thinking mind. Therefore, we conclude that the loss of a single human is equivalent to the loss of an opportunity to save humanity and humanism. It means losing someone who could, perhaps, through a technological or innovative idea, solve one of humanity’s problems at any point in time or in any field. Respecting every thought and every mind, and protecting them, increases the likelihood of discovering new solutions to society’s emerging problems, advancing humanity at least one step forward. Just as quantum physics opened a new chapter in the world’s scientific equations and changed the way humans view the universe, humanism too will open a new chapter in managing the world through peaceful human coexistence.
Implementing the equations of humanism will prevent the extinction of humanity and mankind. In the world of politics, rulers of every nation will build such advanced weapons that they will eventually realize they must never start a war.
Humanity is kindness and respect for the power of another person’s mind and striving to preserve that power. Humanity teaches us that instead of building walls along our country’s borders and distancing ourselves from one another, we should build bridges across those borders, come closer to each other, and be kind to one another.
'World divided is a world political'
If human politics is based on the idea that part of the Earth should have the highest levels of technology, welfare, and peace, while the other part remains indifferent to development, then, inevitably, humans will be drawn toward the land of technology, resulting in a global migration crisis. The outcome will be such that a portion of the Earth is left uninhabited while another becomes densely populated, and controlling such a situation will be far more difficult. So, before we divide the Earth’s soil into “good” and “bad” regions and force everyone to move toward the “good” part, let’s transform the entire Earth into a safe, compassionate, and advanced place. Today, all human efforts should be directed at solving the problems and challenges currently confronting the planet’s inhabitants, which are rapidly multiplying. These include issues such as climate change, greenhouse gases, unknown diseases, biological terrorism, and advanced remote-controlled weapons.
If today human rights organizations have not been able to fully implement their ideal policies in the world, one of the reasons may be that human issues cannot be realized in a political framework. The guiding framework for Earth must be based on trust and humanity. Politics serves the interests of a select few, while humanity benefits all people. Perhaps it can be said that politics is opaque, while humanity is transparent, and combining something opaque with something transparent will certainly not lead to a clear result.
With the advancement of science and technology, the arrival of new knowledge, the development of artificial intelligence, and the creation of robots with reasoning and understanding capabilities similar to a natural human being, on the one hand, and the rise of technology without human logic on the other, the geographical security of human societies is becoming increasingly endangered. From now on, humans must draft specific frameworks and laws for human existence without violating each other’s rights. Because, if one day robots gain decision-making capabilities, humans may no longer have the opportunity for human connection, and robots will make the best decisions for them based on machine logic.
If political power is not controlled or transformed into humane laws, political powers will inevitably morph into military powers, leading to nothing but misery, displacement, destruction of infrastructure, the suffering of children and people, and the undermining of mutual understanding and human thought.
I will end with one recommendation:
If humanity does not shift from the tracks of politics to the tracks of humanism at this point in time, it may forever be forced to choose the path of war and violence, instead of the path of kindness and peaceful coexistence.