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  • When you look at the Earth from space,

  • you don't see the 241 countries and territories that we've divided ourselves into.

  • You don't see the boundaries that we've carved out through bloodshed,

  • or the conflicting ideologies that have evolved on either side of them.

  • You just see one giant rock

  • home to a species that has the capability to tear itself apart.

  • After World War II,

  • where humans wiped out three percent of the world's population,

  • global leaders began discussing the idea of having one world government

  • to avoid repeating the mistakes made over the previous 25 years.

  • The idea quickly fizzled out, but they might have been on to something.

  • This is WHAT IF,

  • and here's what would happen if the world was a single country.

  • For centuries, leaders have fantasized about a day when world peace becomes a reality.

  • But as long as countries are blowing each other up over political and religious differences,

  • that doesn't seem very likely.

  • So what if we just took all the countries in the world

  • and merged them into one giant nation?

  • Surely there'd be nothing to fight about anymore, right?

  • It wouldn't be that simple. It's not like we'd be starting from scratch;

  • instead, we'd be taking thousands of years of cultural histories, prejudices, languages,

  • and currencies, and amalgamating them into one giant melting pot.

  • It would be one of the most complicated endeavors the human race has ever undertaken,

  • so before we go any further maybe we should weigh out the pros and cons,

  • and ask ourselves: would it really be worth it?

  • Starting on the bright side, the first pro of making the world a single country

  • would be that we could tackle the Earth's problems as a unified force.

  • One area where we'd see this benefit most is in our planet's fight against climate change.

  • For example, in 2015

  • both the United States and China pledged to drastically cut their greenhouse gas emissions

  • as part of the Paris agreement;

  • since then China has heavily invested in clean energy sources to keep up with their goals,

  • while the United States has all but pulled out of their commitment.

  • A world government would eliminate this sort of inconsistency

  • by allowing us to develop a global plan of attack

  • on how to make improvements to our environmental situation,

  • and by ensuring that it would be followed across the board.

  • This unified front would also come in handy in times of crisis

  • such as natural disasters or disease epidemics.

  • These catastrophes wouldn't have to impact developing nations

  • so much harder than developed ones.

  • Resources could be spread out to make sure

  • every part of the world had the same opportunities to recover.

  • The next great benefit would be that acts of war could be eliminated

  • because the primary reasons for wars being started in the first place

  • would be almost non-existent.

  • Some experts think that the elimination of war

  • is an absolute necessity if humankind wants to survive.

  • It is estimated that there are 17,000 nuclear weapons on the planet right now,

  • with France, China, the U.S., Russia, Pakistan,

  • Israel, India, the UK, and North Korea all possessing them.

  • If they were to be used again, we'd all suffer,

  • no matter where the conflict was taking place.

  • The third good thing that could come from a one world government

  • is that there'd be a better balance of quality of life across the globe.

  • For starters, with no more wars,

  • defense budgets would be dropped substantially,

  • making more cash available for other needs, like global healthcare.

  • With everyone reporting to the same governing party and following the same rules,

  • it would be easier to defend human rights

  • and set safe labor standards for workers in every part of the world.

  • A global nation would mean a global currency,

  • which would mean a reduction of the economic power of developed countries

  • like China.

  • With no currency exchange in the mix,

  • it would no longer have the means or the need

  • to offer up goods and services on the world market on the cheap.

  • Eliminating this means giving companies a fairer shake,

  • no matter where they might be in the world.

  • Developing countries could benefit, although it wouldn't just happen overnight.

  • Now, a global government wouldn't guarantee that

  • everything on the planet would be all sunshine and roses,

  • and that brings us to the cons.

  • Our first, and potentially most important 'con'

  • is that the wrong person could be put in charge of the entire planet.

  • To elect them, there would probably need to be one vote from every former country,

  • but campaigning for the position might still be similar to what we see in today's elections.

  • Obviously, there can be problems, and you can never rule out the possibility

  • of corruption or backroom dealings.

  • Who's to say we wouldn't end up with a leader with malicious interests in mind?

  • One of the foundations of the Nazi political belief system

  • was the establishment of a global government, which, in their case,

  • would have led to more genocide and the wiping out of democracies

  • around the world in order to force their political ideology onto the masses.

  • Our second problem would be that the idea of nationalism would be lost.

  • Nationalism develops cultures,

  • and it helps fuel a want and need to achieve things like technological advancements.

  • Think about the space race between the U.S. and Russia

  • and the way it affected the global desire to explore space.

  • Not to mention bragging rights when it comes to kicking some butt at sporting competitions.

  • But now that we think of it, no nationalism could lead to some good stuff too.

  • No nationalism can mean people are far less concerned about where a person is from

  • and more accepting of cultural and religious differences,

  • which means less potential for conflict.

  • So, maybe we're best to move on from this one.

  • Our final con is that the whole thing would be extremely complicated,

  • and could just end up leading to more global conflict.

  • Making the world a single country would be a logistical nightmare!

  • We'd all have to adapt to whatever universal languages we decide to use,

  • and then there'd be the potentially bigger issue of figuring out a common currency.

  • How long would existing currencies be accepted?

  • What could we develop to oversee the physical printing and distribution of the new money?

  • So many moving parts.

  • On top of that, there's the fact that there will still be a good chunk of the world population

  • who are opposed to the whole idea of a single world government.

  • Sure we'd all be living under one umbrella, but it could be an umbrella full of rebellions,

  • widespread corruption, and

  • cultural clashes, the very kinds of conflict we were trying to avoid in the first place.

  • It sounds like a good idea on paper, but

  • considering how unbalanced the current political and economic fields are

  • it would take a lot of convincing to get every country on board.

  • Maybe it would take World War III in order to convince everyone,

  • and by then it might be too late.

  • But that's a topic for another WHAT IF.

When you look at the Earth from space,

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如果世界是一個單一的國家呢? (What If the World Was A Single Country?)

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    林宜悉 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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