Bjorn Lomborg: Our priorities for saving the world

http://www.ted.com Given $50 billion to spend, which would you solve first, AIDS or global warming? Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg comes up with surprising answers.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• TED
• TEDTalks
• talks
• Bjorn Lomborg
• priorities
• saving the world
• world
• save
• world problems
• social change
• world changing
• priority
• prioritize
• prioritization
• list
• people
• good
• common good
• Copenhagen Consensus
• consensus
• Copenhagen
• drinking water
• climate
• billion
• dollars
• AIDS
• solve
• solve problems
• solving problems
• climate change
• sanitation
• migration
• malaria
• subsidies
• trade barriers
• malnutrition
• organization
• organizations
• UN
• U.N.
• United
• Nations
• choices
• economics
• World health

[H1PBS]

All this video does is highlight how retarded our socioeconomic strucure is today. While I appreciate he is trying to make the best of a bad situation, it seems to me that he would really be better off putting forward the case for fundamental change in the world. The fact that we can't afford to do everything that needs doing doesn't mean we should prioritise, it means we should rethink the way things get done. It should not be a question of money but of resources and technological capability.

[GUNITT89]

I like this guy... most TED speakers are hippies that don't consider economics.

[EnjoyGreatMusic]

But those, who actually do something about it, respect, personally, I won't do as long as satisfying my basic needs doesn't depend on solving these big world problems.

[EnjoyGreatMusic]

Do you know "Maslow's hierarchy of needs" ? Problem solving is on top. First comes food, safety, simply put getting job, earning money, buying food, renting or buying apartment. As long as you are not millionare, when you don't have to worry of your basic needs, you really wont give a damn thing, what is going on the other side of the world. You will just think, yea it is bad, but won't spend a second to actually do smth about it. Even if u were a millionare, you would just enjoy your life. :D

[wmweirich]

Gore gets 3-4-5 presentation; The contrary argument - that global man-made warming, is a hoax - gets about zero airtime in this venue. While TED has much going, it is far from balanced - nor does the group really vet its speakers credibility, if they are going to allow the likes of Gore and Co. to be highlighted without equal time to the scientific facts well known at this juncture. To wit: Michael Mann's "...hide the decline", Global Warming (manmade) is the best ence that Politics can buy.

[H1PBS]

@RadioactiveBraunMan Human nature dictates how we behave in a given society not what society we live in. Human beings are selfish in as much as they will do whatever is in their best interest, hence people behave in a greedy and corrupt fashion in our society because it results in more money and thus greater access to resources. But if that behaviour wasn't rewarded it wouldn't be so prevalent. Look at societies like the Buid or the Kibbutz based on equal sharing of wealth

[RadioactiveBraunMan]

@H1PBS You are right, this certainly isnt a forum to discuss this in. However, what you're describing to be a consequence of an upbringing in our "current" society along with capitalism, is actually basic human nature. And it has been the same in all "pre capitalistic" societies and in all communist/theocratic societies as well.

The only constant over the last 20,000 years has been human nature, and that nature is as selfish as any animalistic nature has to be to survive. damn character limit..

[H1PBS]

@RadioactiveBraunMan This is really too deep a topic to discuss effectively here but you and many people may well prefer a fancy new toy over providing for your fellow man and that is very much to be expected considering the society we were brought up in where selfishness and greediness is directly rewarded. Capitalism is based on differential advantage and we are heavily conditioned to accept this as just "the way things are" from a young age but it does not have to be so.

[RadioactiveBraunMan]

@H1PBS And the cold truth is, that I, just as most people, really fancy a new toy way more than I could give a damn about some poor african lack fresh water. Despite popular doctrine everyone is his own best friend.

Always was, always will be.

So, to alleviate the "poor" problem is to stop subsidizing handouts and to actually give people the means to accumulate wealth themselves.

A short reference for yo is asia & africa, fewer handouts in the last 30y = they start to get their shit together

[RadioactiveBraunMan]

@H1PBS well, i might be misreading you, but that has quite a flair of "them ebil corporations with their evil money".

On you point. It is true that there are more than enough technologies / resources are abundant enough to supply all humans with quite a decent living standard.

However, its not that much a matter that there is little direct financial reward in doing so (which there isnt in the short term...), it is more of a lack of political and social will.

...YT comments are too short...

[H1PBS]

@RadioactiveBraunMan I disagree with your analysis but the fact remains that the world has more than enough resources and technological capability to bring everyone out of poverty and improve the life of everyone. All you have to do is read any of the UN Human Development Reports which clearly demonstrate that. The reason these problems aren’t addressed effectively is because not enough money can be made out of solving them and therein lies the problem.