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Rishabh Tagore

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What dreams do you have for the world?

Society is not a constant, it is always evolving, always changing to best fit the world. But all these changes always begin dream. Like Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of equality or Nelson Mandela's dream of freedom.


It will be interesting to document the dreams we have for society, as only once these seeds are sown, can real change happen. This is precisely what I aim to do, to collect the dreams you have, which can be idealistic as well as practical, so maybe one day, when you really do have a daughter (or daughter's daughter), someone will make them come true.

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Topics: future social change
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    bulbul mankani

    • +3
    Apr 20 2011: My dream is for the world to be a slower place: where Nature is respected and honored, where relationships matter, where you are part of a world community, where there is enough empathy for War to be a foreign word, where there is less media, less consumption, more living with better quality food than quantity. An empathetic world.

  • Saelon Britton

    • +1
    Apr 20 2011: I dream of peace, inner and outer. I dream of a world where there are no more wars, where nuclear power is part of the history books like starting fire with sticks, where health care is universal, where medicine is about helping people and not corporate greed, where all children of the world are well fed and educated, where women around the world are safe and free, where sex trades don't exit, where secret spousal abuse is no longer secret because women feel safe to say enough is enough, where girls grow up with total confidence, where all people of all gender and race are equal and respectful, where organic food is mainstream and affordable to the masses, and chemical sprayed and genetically modified foods do not exist, where love prevails in all arenas, where politics and government are really about the people, where the sun shines most of the time during the day and it rains at night while Im sleeping, where rainbows appear over the ocean and whales and dolphins are free from slaughter, where TV is netflix steaming without commercials, where jobs are what we do because we love to do it and the pay is equal to the standard of living, where water is pure and clean, and we can drink it out of the creek or river instead buying it from pepsi or coke. I dream of a world my grandchildren will grow up in, flourish and live to a healthy old age without oppression and big brother controlling their every move. I dream that everyone soon realizes we are all connected, that we really are one with all living things. I dream of peace, inner and outer, and that all beings be free from suffering.

  • doanh do

    • +1
    Apr 19 2011: I dream of a sustainable world where our children, grandchildren, and generations to come can experience the same beauty on this planet that we have in our lifetime. I dream of a world where the world wide web allows us to band together to solve problems, realize that we are all connect to one another, and eliminate xenophobia. I dream of a world where education and learning is democratize where a child in sub-Sahara Africa has the same opportunities as a child elsewhere in the world so that we can all live up to our full potential.
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    Budimir Zdravkovic 20+

    • +1
    Apr 19 2011: An anarcho syndicalist society, where poverty and oppression don't exist, where people work what they want to work, creatively express themselves and have time to spend with their families.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho_syndicalism

  • mullasaadullah husami

    • 0
    Apr 19 2011: Why are we here in this world ? is it a chance ?? a design ? a coincidence ? a plan by our parents ? from the ancestors ?
    when we get to know this we can sleep and dream peacefully
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    Bruce Arterbury

    • 0
    Apr 18 2011: I dream of the return of the "Prince of Peace." Heaven on earth. I dearm of a one road town from San Diego to El Paso, Tx. And a San Antonio, Tx type river walk from El Paso, Tx to Brownsville Tx. I dream of building a world class seaport in the Salton Sea and a canal to connect it to the Gulf of Califorina.
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    Priyanka Arjun

    • 0
    Apr 18 2011: I dream a world without fear, be it war, politics or catastrophes. A world where people will LIVE instead of completing a rudimentary life-cycle. That would be a more creative, more balanced more joyous place to live.
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    Zaz Tao 30+

    • +4
    Apr 18 2011: I dream of salmon, halibut, yellowtail, bluefin, sea bass, mackerel, octopus, beef, chicken and pork. Not the whole animals, but the flesh of those creatures...cloned and growing in fixtures with no brains, no senses. Fed by tubes with nutrients sufficient to make the flesh grow with all the taste and nutritional benefit of the healthiest of the wild animals. The fixtures they grow upon mechanically stress them and generate signals to exercise the muscle to facilitate proper growth, since the aim is to not make an animal that can suffer, but just the flesh for preparation by my favorite sushi chef, built by Honda, programmed in Tokyo by top chefs. After a delicious sushi lunch, I like to spend twenty minutes smoking on the observation deck pondering the lunar surface and the distant Earth, fast becoming a nature reserve as so many are now either living ecologically or colonizing Mars. Then I'll be touring a mine or the many manufacturing centers, dreaming up ways to improve productivity. Perhaps I will wander down in the greenhouses or have a chat with some of the brighter robots, but I am a professional, so whenever "lightning strikes", I'll be pulling up my pad or heading for the Brainstorm center to pull diagrams across screens and apply my creativity to the constant upgrading of the Lunar Industrial Complex. It's that gushing flow of useful thoughts that gets me the "pay" that brings the perks like smoking and drinking whatever and whenever I want. Sure, I've had to regrow my lungs three times and de-cancer five, but hell, I'm coming up on my 125th birthday, and I never cut my limbs or head off like some of those extreme-sports people! I know people will say, "that stuff stinks!" and "people used to die from that!" Let's face it, people used to die no matter what, and many starved just because the Nation-State political nonsense was so poorly run. I was there, I remember. It was pathetic before our species got its act together and learned to share.
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    S. Mouse

    • 0
    Apr 17 2011: My dream is peace, equality and harmony among all people. This includes the rejection of racism, classism and xenophobia. We are all one people. Too many people think the One World concept is arbitrary. We must all respect one another, and work to end hate, rabid consumerism, exploitation of people and our planet.

  • graham nickols

    • 0
    Apr 16 2011: My dream is that, one day, governments will not use force on its citizens.
    This means no taxation, no compulsory acquisition of personal property and no compulsory military service.
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      Krisztián Pintér 200+

      • 0
      TED Translator
      Apr 16 2011: and what the role of governments would be in that world?

      • Mark Meijer 100+

        • 0
        HostAssociate
        Apr 16 2011: At best, serving the people, literally doing our administration and representing us. That used to be the great american experiment after all, before it failed miserably.

        Ideally, they would have little to no role whatsoever, and would largely or wholly dissolve.
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          Krisztián Pintér 200+

          • 0
          TED Translator
          Apr 16 2011: actually i wanted to suggest that governments' nature is coercion. government without coercion is like omelette without eggs.

          (murray rothbard wrote a lot about this issue.)

      • Mark Meijer 100+

        • +1
        HostAssociate
        Apr 16 2011: I don't think you're exactly wrong about that, I guess it depends on what one would still consider government. At least in theory, governmental functions don't need to be centrally and hierarchically organized, and it could be entirely based on voluntary participation. A totally flat and decentral organization of society, which is to say anarchy, is perfectly capable to perform the necessary functions to keep that society running. Something slightly less flat and decentralized is direct democracy, but even there different groups can be temporarily formed and dissolved for specific functions as the need arises. Still all based on voluntary participation. But I agree with you that at least the way we think of government in the current statist sense, is by its nature coercive. Do you mean to say that you are, or are not, in favor of that?
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          Krisztián Pintér 200+

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          TED Translator
          Apr 17 2011: i'm not sure this is the right place for this conversation. i opened, some time ago, a conversation for such topics, "the role of government". you seem to be contributed under a slightly different name?

          in short: state is an ill-defined word. for me, state is not the people. state is an organization that runs the country. if people organize their own affairs, we don't have a state. this is how i see it.

      • Mark Meijer 100+

        • 0
        HostAssociate
        Apr 17 2011: Sorry, I don't remember seeing the conversation you mention, but let it be clear that I have exactly one account here on TED. However I'm quite sure that there are others who share some of my opinions ;). And it looks like we share this one. Cheers m8.
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      Marcin Jakubowski 100+

      • 0
      TED Fellow
      Apr 21 2011: Ah, excellent wish. I'd like to point out that we feed our own oppressors. My hope is that our work enables civilization to do otherwise. http://www.ted.com/talks/marcin_jakubowski.html

  • Allina Mihaela Avatamanitei

    • 0
    Apr 15 2011: I dream that there will be a day in which every person in the world tries every day to be the best version of themselves, aren't thining just at themselves, but also at the persons around them and that everyone sees their true potential and works hard to achieve their dreams.
    I do believe that a community of great individuals can achieve something greater that they can imagine.

  • Mark Meijer 100+

    • 0
    HostAssociate
    Apr 15 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE

  • Bhupat Rawal

    • 0
    Apr 14 2011: True, Society is not a constant and likewise are dreams. Neanderthals' wouldn't have dreamed of the world we live in. The reality is to live the ongoing dream as it emerges for each individual, society, nation and cosmos. Understanding of all that is around us-both animate and inanimate-especially in terms of how our lives get structured, forms the basis of contemporary dream- a saga beyond philanthropy to feed, have equal rights/opportunities or freedom. Historically, natural events unexpectedly turn it all around and return us to the beginning. My dream is therefore, to have life evolve in synchrony with natural events to develop new life forms and social orders in the future as a means to prevent annihilation of life itself.

  • Jean-Louis Rheault

    • 0
    Apr 14 2011: There is a recent aphorism that said something to the effect that the 20th century represents the collapse of the dream of social Utopias, the 21st will represent the collapse of the technological one.
    My dream I guess, is that the collapse wont too devastating and that it wont take centuries to recover from it.
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    Sage Blackthorn

    • +2
    Apr 14 2011: I've had a lot of dreams for the world I live in over the years. I've dreamed of a world where people earn a living doing what they like to do instead of doing things they hate to pay the bills. Where they can build homes that are affordable, that don't require massive amounts of energy to heat and cool. Where everyone uses only what they need and leaves the rest for others. Where cities are landscaped with food bearing trees, open running streams full of fish all free for the taking. Where city blocks have open, common fields in the middle where residents of the block can decide to make a park for their children, or grow food, or raise animals, or whatever they want. Kinda like a mini-village. I've dreams of houses on these blocks being 3 or 4 stories tall, where families and extended families live under one roof. Where Mom, Dad, children, Grandma, and Grandpa sit down to dinner together. Maybe aunts and uncles live next door, or two or three doors down. I've dreamed of crafts-people being able to earn a living wage practicing their art and bringing back the Cottage Industry while using locally available materials. I've dreamed of a world with fewer people, not because of famine, but because people choose to have smaller families in order to live on the resources available within 100 miles of where they live. I've dreamed of world where land doesn't belong to people, but rather people belong to the land. Where no one is homeless because if you find a patch of land that no one's using, you can pitch a tent or build a home on it. I've dreamed of a world where community leaders are asked by the community to lead because they show a record of good decision making and long term planning for the benefit of the community instead of seeking power and luxury for themselves. Where there is no difference in the standard of living between the leaders and their people. Mostly, I've dreamed of a world where people are content with what they have instead of always wanting more.

  • Jean-Daniel Cusin

    • 0
    Apr 13 2011: John Lennon’s Imagine comes to mind.

    I dream of direct democracy, where the people affected by decisions have a chance to weigh in on them, where accountability has a face, and where there is no machinery of government whose sole purpose is to perpetuate itself at all costs.

  • SATISH PANDE

    • 0
    Apr 13 2011: Rishabh the answer is obvious which your namesake had given during freedom struggle of India,
    a poem by Gurudev rabindra nath Tagore....

    Where The Mind is Without Fear

    Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
    Where knowledge is free
    Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
    By narrow domestic walls
    Where words come out from the depth of truth
    Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
    Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
    Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
    Where the mind is led forward by thee
    Into ever-widening thought and action
    Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake


    Rabindranath Tagore

  • Josh Stafford

    • 0
    Apr 13 2011: Imagine a world where everybody's purpose would be to take care of everybody else. The mind baulks at the idea of it: it's ludicrous to the extreme. Yes, it's radical, but think about it:each of us would be serving everybody else and for those who wonder where they will find the time to help themselves, remember that you, in turn, would be helped by everybody else.

    Such an notion, however, is doomed to failure. Why? We are selfish beings. Self-preservation is in our genetic makeup; we look after ourselves first; our families next--genetically imprinted in our make-up because they will carry our genes forward. Friends are next; strangers last, if at all.

    But some things that were "scientifically" doomed to failure, didn't fail. Magellan didn't fall off the flat earth when he sailed around it; the Wright brothers achieved sustained flight in a heavier-than-air machine; Andy Green proved that a land vehicle can travel faster than the speed of sound in Thrust SSC...so I'll stick with my hope that sometime in the future, our descendants will live in a society of peace because humans don't look after themselves, but everybody else.

    That's my dream for the world: a society where we serve others, not ourselves.

  • David Rodrigues 30+

    • +6
    TED TranslatorAssociate
    Apr 11 2011: My dream is:

    End the era of HAVE and start the era of BE.

  • Adam Skoog

    • 0
    Apr 11 2011: I am currently studying watershed management and political science in an attempt to promote and provide 3 main things that will effectively change our world for the better. All of which are the same priority.
    1. Education
    2. Clean drinking water
    3. Women Rights

  • Michael Huston

    • 0
    Apr 10 2011: My dream would be to use the technology we have now to completely change work, commuting, and even property markets: If a person's job is to work on a computer, then there is no reason to drive to work, it wastes gas and a businesses money on a large building it doesn't need. Instead, one could work at home on a networked computer and video conference when needed. Maybe one would need a face-to-face every now and then. What this also means is that one does not need to live in an overprice, overpopulated city either; one could live in a different state/country. For clarity, thinking about my home, it's inexpensive here in Iowa, but in California, it'd cost 10X more (I'm not exaggerating either). Now think of how many cars would be off the road, not wasting fuel or polluting the air.
    Since I still have plenty of characters: I'd also like to do away with tangible money. Who knows who or how many people have touched or done what to the paper bill or metal coin (theirs is sure to be fecal-coli on them)? Moreover, it costs money to make the money that doesn't even last very long. Think of all the people who already use debt for every purchase where it is possible. Sure, some security issues need improved, but it's doable.
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    Joseph Nowinski

    • 0
    Apr 10 2011: I dream of a world that embraces the basic and modern rights of all human beings and continues our sense of thoughtful adventure. We live in a world where the need for equality and transparency have become essential rights all people in the world can embrace. Plus, our universe is massive and we as humans still have many questions unanswered. We are running the human race into a hole because of our need for dependence, and these dependencies and the ignorance of them from most people are hurting our fragile Earth, and in the end if we screw it up it is only going to be for our loss. the planet will remain. If we are looking for the survival of the human race, we need to embrace similarities and the idea that was trying to be past down for all eternity. We are all brothers and sisters, and that if I love my children I must love all the world's children. I support humanism and the need for our species to create a sustainable yet progressive society that can not only embrace similarities but celebrate it's differences. In the end, it is about education, and if we cannot or refuse to educate our children in a culturally positive atmosphere to critically think, we will loose not only the positive aspects of our humanity but also our future on this planet. The time is now, and we need to extend the hand of peace and equality to all, and make people understand the responsibilities and sacrifices we all must make for a better world. In the end, all we need to do is just try our best to be nice to each other.

  • Peter Carey

    • 0
    Apr 7 2011: I dream of a world where no person need dream for anything.
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    tigoti dahurbayar 20+

    • 0
    Apr 7 2011: I dream of a world where we don't fight for oil or religion.

  • Brandon Scott

    • 0
    Apr 6 2011: I dream of a world where education is not based on biases or prejudices. simply knowledge.
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    M.A. Lucas-Green

    • 0
    Apr 6 2011: Dream - democratic education for democratic society

  • Kristen Mintzer

    • +3
    Apr 6 2011: I dream...

    of a world where people love each other. And I mean real love..the kind of love where we truly put others before ourselves.

    of a world in which science and faith are not mutually exclusive.

    of a world where education is valued as the means by which society is improved and progressed.

  • Bob Tackett

    • 0
    Apr 5 2011: That energy would be extremely cheap, ala the Bussard IEC fusion reactor, or the Rossi energy catalyzer (cold fusion), or even a better way that will one day occur. That we would supply all third world countries with these so that they could stop wasting their habitats by cutting down trees. We could then build without fossil fuels, and no countries would have monopolies on energies. Lighting and environmental control would be universal, making hospitals much better in the worst of places.

    That we would figure out how to fly without the need for propellers or jets, electrically, and that would be our principal means of travelling long distances. With cheap energy, and these craft, people could live long distances from work, and commute quickly, and park at the tops of buildings rather than the bottoms. That these craft could travel outside the atmosphere, so that kids could take a field trip into orbit, or to the moon. I'd want to go too. And we could use this to mine other planets, and spoil our own less. That no country would have a monopoly on these resources.

    That there would be a universal language that we all spoke as a second language, so that we could communicate with everyone else on earth. Maybe Esperanto, or maybe something even better, as I believe the simple lack of understanding a language is the greatest barrier in the world.

    That there will not be a universal government, since it would eventually be too powerful, too controlling, and there would be no place to run from a tyrant.

    That every religion would believe that God really doesn't want us killing or hurting others just because they don't believe like us.

    And, I don't know, maybe a pill to make yucky healthy stuff taste yummy.

    And that's enough for today. I'll wish for transporters after this stuff happens.
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    Nicholas Lukowiak 50+

    • 0
    Apr 5 2011: I dreamt about a world (green and blue were exchanged and no one had eyes), I was lost in a strange town and didn't know where I was, while I saw people I couldn't speak their language, as something caught my eye I tripped and fell badly. More hands than I could count assisted me and although I could not understand their questions I pointed to the pain. They escorted me to the nearest house without anymore conversation, as someone ran into the house they quickly came back to me and the crowd around me. The person had given me an old translator computer and set down aside me the first aid kit. As I began to type in thank you before I could press translate, someone took it away from me, they typed in a message. It read "talk later. are we hurting you? Feel better?" I shook my head no then yes, as a tear came down my cheek. I took the translator and typed "Don't let me wake up. Only in my dreams will many care for one with no reason."

    My dream made me realize what I wanted in the world, for people to care for no gain nor profit, to only care to know that the stranger on the other side of the planet is just as happy as you are, no, happier. That they are not dying over resources, that they are not dying of hunger, and mostly that they are being loved.
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