School of Thinking Thought Experiment #11
Posted on June 5th, 2007 by MichaelGLOBAL VILLAGE 100
What if we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people with all the existing human ratios remaining the same? What would that little global village look like?
This micro-village would look something the following. There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
89 would be right-handed
11 would be left-handed
6 would possess 59% of the world’s wealth and all 6 would be Americans
80 would live in sub-standard housing
70 would be unable to read or write
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education, and
1 would own a computer.
21 Europeans
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
89 would be right-handed
11 would be left-handed
6 would possess 59% of the world’s wealth and all 6 would be Americans
80 would live in sub-standard housing
70 would be unable to read or write
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education, and
1 would own a computer.
Think about it and post your comment:
When you think about the world from this compressed perspective what, in your opinion, is the most interesting thing for you to consider?
June 7th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Yes, very interesting, but I can’t help but wonder there is an undercurrent of criticism or at least challenge in the way the analysis is framed. Perhaps we like oversimplifying infinitely complex situations such as The State of The World today. There are so many factors involved as to why the situations is the way it is, and any implication attained from juxtaposing the above analogy to our real-life situation, eg. such as the of humankind’s ability to overcome its dire circumstances, or the misplacement of power and wealth, is false and unhelpful.
I wonder if analysis like this stems from human’s (common) attribute of self-loathing, or maybe it makes us feel better or alleviates our guilt if we are told how bad we are.
June 6th, 2007 at 6:49 am
This shows the desperate need for quality education.
Schools / colleges should be open like businesses 52 week a year.
To cater for holidays, sickness, slow learners etc this would be overcome with careful planning of the curriculum.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Only 65 million computers globally? I think 100M is better.