Thought Experiment: Global Village 100
Posted on May 27th, 2009 by MichaelGLOBAL VILLAGE 100
What if we could shrink the earth’s population, as a thought experiment, 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?
April 29th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
It means that the 50 suffering from malnutrition are stuck into CVS and did not realize that the 6 owning 59% of the world wealth are not working harder than them but are over skilled into BVS to the detriment of the rest of the population.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
It strikes me in the Global Village that Race, Colour, Sex, Sexuality, Age and Whether or not they are Left or Right handed seemed insignificant factors to me.
My focus turned to the fact that 70% of the micro population do not have core values or beliefs that drive their actions in the community, these people are also unlikely to be able to read or write. My thoughts here are that the opportunities available to improve the way they think is more limited unless they are given exposure to 6% of those that are wealthy or less that are educated.
Inequality has existed since the beginning of time. This is a good reality check, it will take a lot more than clever thinking to solve the imbalances.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:32 am
The whole idea is amazing and quite enlightening, but the frightening factor is the last two – the lack of education around the world and the lack of access to everything we take for granted.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:07 am
surely god would not have allowed this to hapen,
all the more reason why i have to accept darwin thinking on evoloution
nothing is fair it is the way of the world we live in, as it evolves.
we will try as humans to enforce our beliefs on it,part of what humans do,in human evoloution,the numbers in the global village will also evolve with time.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
At least a few of those numbers need to be challenged.
Europe makes up about 12 % of the world’s population.
Africa, 14 %.
There’s around 1 billion computers in the world, which should translate to more than 1 % of the population (i.e. 68 million people) being a computer owner (even accounting for gross disparities in the distribution of those).
Also, the number of computers users is probably more significant than the number of computer owners.
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:54 am
These percentage ratios are deplorable, nay sickening, 80 would live in sub-standard housing,
70 would be unable to read or write,
50 would suffer from malnutrition,
Please forgive my profanity, but we(I) need to kick our ass in gear and rectify these deficiencies. We are in the 21st century and it is time to take care of our community. We are all in and on the spaceship of Earth together. We the people of our global village need to bring about cooperation on all tiers to remedy the plights of our brothers and sisters. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs clearly demonstrates, basic needs of every individual must be satisfied before they can progress.
This was an outstanding experiment. Puts things into a conceivable understanding of our situation. We need to see ONE, not perceived others. Non-white, male, female, non-Christian, Christian, rich and poor whatever! All is an illusion. We are LIFE and should respect that in each other no matter what costume we may be wearing.
Thank you for reading my comments.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:44 pm
How do the have-nots feel about the haves?
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:18 am
I think the six who control nearly two-thirds of the world’s wealth should fire up their one computer, rope in the individual with a college education, and get going on a serious discussion of how to make the world’s abundant resources go a little further. Revising the food production system in their own country so that it’s less geared to providing high-fat sugary snacks for obese and sedentary people and more toward providing low-cost high-nutrition support for people who desperately need food might be first on their list. Once they’ve found a way to save the fifty who are suffering from malnutrition, they might engage the other 94 people to work on imagining a global economic framework that, instead of increasingly concentrating wealth and power in the hands of those who already have it, distributes it widely in locally controlled systems of governance, food production, education, health care, and environmental stewardship. Those not fully occupied in this task could get to work on remedying the substandard housing conditions of the eighty unfortunates whose homes don’t provide even a minimum standard of safety, health, and comfort.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:54 am
The numbers in the compressed village indeed shows what is known, Asian population is larger, females are gaining their place, christianity is shrinking, America is still the richest country. These are not surprising figures considering the way the world is today.
I wonder in your compressed global village how many have access to water and how it would look like. How the north/south, colour, race and religion differences would show up in relation to water availability. This is a vital commodity and its distribution and accessibility is crucial for survival, before one can think of having a college education or owning a computer.
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:38 am
I count only 86 total people. I think this article needs to be edited for mistakes and footnotes added so one can read the research the author used to get these figures.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Very interesting, but it brings to mind more questions.
How many don’t believe in GOD?
How many would be married and how many single?
How many children and how many seniors?
How many rulers/controllers (those in charge of the community)? How many would know how to think?
June 1st, 2009 at 9:42 pm
This means also that
under 20 have cars, televisions, dvd players
less than 1 buy books, subscribe to magazines, buy newspapers
Question
How many would be non-American wealthy people?
Queen of England, JK Rowling, Arabs, Russians and the others who are billionaires or multi-millionaires around the globe.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:27 pm
As I sit here typing on my computer taking a break from writing up my PhD disseration, this information puts a lot of things into perspective. Despite the reported advancements in the world, the majority of the worlds population still live without what many would consider the basics including adequate nutrition, shelter and education. Perhaps I should forget the PhD and do something that might have an impact.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
6 would possess 59% of the worlds wealth – astonishing what do they do with it all – how can they possibly use it effectively ?
June 1st, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Aad…can any of these individually or unitedly ….all this eliminate the ignorance & global epidemic spread of lies…
WHEN are we ever thinking of Uniting all the people of this beautiful, wholesome & charming & civilized planet for one day or in period intervals to make the earth & much better fulture…say a billion times or may be trillion times or may be more then it is!!!
That is my Global citizen spirit calling u ……& i have not stopped here….
June 1st, 2009 at 2:43 pm
At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what the characteristics of the population is made up from. What remains vital to each and every population is the ability to feed. The most important focus consideration for me is how will everyone get fed. Who will the farmers be? Where will the food generate from? Not everyone farms. If no one gets fed, no one survives for long. Starving people are angry people. Communities that survive must be happy with their life. Food my not be the most interesting thing to think about but then again you tell that to my stomach when it begins to rumble.