At this very instant, there are thousands of small children
who are on the brink of death, suffering miserably. We know this because over
17,000 children under the age of five die every single day from causes such as
pneumonia, asphyxia, and malaria. The emotional trauma endured by the parents
of each of these children must be absolutely unbearable. Also at this very moment, there are numerous people
whose lives are so overwhelmed by depression that they are about to commit
suicide. Countless others are suffering from chronic pain, stress, and
heartbreak. No doubt there are people who have just been injured so gruesomely
that they are screaming in agony. There are little girls being held hostage by
serial killers who are about to rape, torture, and murder them. Innocent people
are locked up behind bars right now, their entire lives ruined by someone’s
false accusation. In places like Syria and Afghanistan, constant warfare is
destroying communities and tearing apart families. And all of this only begins
to scratch the surface of human
suffering. Meanwhile, there are animals suffering by the billions on intensive
factory farms. Breeding sows in gestation crates are literally going insane
from being confined so tightly that they cannot even turn around. And there is
good evidence to suggest that some poor chickens are being boiled alive as you
read these words. And what about animals in the wild? Surely there are gazelles
who are whimpering with fear as they try to escape their predators, but they
will fail and face a brutal end in the mouth of a lion. Other animals are
starving, dehydrated, freezing, or too sickly to stand. Indeed, our planet,
despite all of its majestic beauty, is a shockingly horrific place.
Now,
with all this in mind, try to imagine the aggregate of all the suffering in the
world in just one day. I mean really try to get a grasp of it. Think of the
worst you’ve ever felt in your entire life, and multiply that by several orders
of magnitude. I’m being serious. Try it. If you’ve given this mental exercise
an honest effort, you’ll probably agree with me that this thought is truly terrifying. And it’s not just a bad
dream. It’s for real, and we know it. Our current situation is so intensely
horrible that I seriously wonder sometimes whether it would have been better
had the Earth been destroyed by an asteroid long before its first creature was
born.
Am I
being overly dramatic? I honestly don’t think that I am. I think there are good
reasons to believe that the present state of affairs really is that bad, and I am prepared to defend
that view. If anything, I think I have understated the case, mainly because I
don’t think that anyone, myself included, is capable of fully comprehending the
staggering magnitude of this problem.
Some
people might rightfully point out that there is also an enormous amount of
happiness in the world. That’s true. There are millions of people who are, say,
falling in love, and we should be joyful for that. But I’m not at all convinced
that there is enough happiness to “offset” the suffering. Even the most
privileged among us are merely content most of the time. And even if you could
somehow prove to me that the net value of happiness and suffering combined was
positive, I still don’t think that should at all diminish our sense of urgency.
It would be meager consolation for a child dying of malaria to hear that your
little one is just as happy and healthy as can be.
At this
point, many of you might be offended that I brought such misery to your
attention. Perhaps you would have rather continued with your daily routine,
oblivious to the world around you. Indeed, maybe by mentioning this to you, I
ironically added unnecessarily to the problem by making you worry about it. But
I think there are good reasons why we need to confront the truth about
suffering.
It was
only when I began thinking about the seriousness of suffering that I became
motivated to actually do something
about it. I’m sure many people feel like they are powerless to do anything
about it, but this is simply not true. Granted, much of the suffering that
occurs in this world is beyond our control. And in cases where it is in our control,
there isn’t always an obvious solution. But while it would be naïve to expect a
utopian future, it would be equally naïve to think that we can’t make dramatic progress,
for there is still a significant amount of suffering that we could easily
solve if only we set our minds to it. For what it’s worth, efforts to improve
the world have succeeded in the past.
The name of this blog is “Utility
Café” because I am a utilitarian. That means I believe that the best course of
action is the one that will bring about the most happiness in the universe and,
conversely, reduce the most suffering. In other words, let’s do what is, on the
whole, best for everyone. I am a utilitarian because I know what it is like
when life is a paradise. At times I am so filled with joy that I can’t contain
my happiness. I have laughed so hard that I cried, and it’s awesome. Sometimes
everything just feels perfect. But I am also a utilitarian because I know what
it is like when life is a nightmare. At other times, I am so overcome with immeasurable
sadness that I would pay any price for it to stop. I know what it is like to be
angry, hurt, and in pain. I have suffered.
The aggregate of all the suffering
in the world is so intense that it honestly scares me. I worry about it several
times every day. Perhaps you think that is going too far, but I don’t think my
worries are unwarranted. Thinking about suffering has changed me in profound
ways. Like most people, I used to be only moderately concerned with what was
happening beyond my personal life. I understood that there were issues that
needed to be solved, and I knew it mattered, but it didn’t really affect me
deep down. But now it does. I legitimately worry about things like malaria
rather frequently. Fixing the problem of suffering means everything to me. It is so important that I have chosen to dedicate my life to it. To ignore it has
become unthinkable. What’s more, I
think that if you are not as passionate about this as I am, it is merely a
result of your failure to grasp the gravity of the situation. I truly hope that
you one day come to the same realization that I have.
Reducing
suffering shouldn’t just be an ideal that we pay lip service to from time to
time. We need to explicitly recognize it as the ultimate goal of our endeavors.
I want to live in a society where everyone is united in this cause. I want it
to be the project of civilization. Together, we can strive to make our world a happier,
more peaceful place to live, and nothing could be more important than that.
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