The Speculist

John Gardner, writing at Tech Central Station, has some suggestions for goals which he says could be achieved by the year 2015, the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, given sufficient buy-in around the world:

1. End international human trafficking.

2. Reduce malaria deaths by 75%.

3. Raise literacy rates to 75%.

4. End famines.

5. Free up farm trade.

6. Religious freedom.

7. Internet freedom.

8. Raise financing for development to 1% of GNP among OECD countries.

Read the whole thing for Gardner's thoughts and analysis of each. These are, all of them, excellent ideas. The first one should have been settled once and for all a long time ago. Unfortunately, I don't see 6 and 7 happening without some massive attitude changes taking place first in the West. So long as western companies are helping restrictive regimes control the Internet, and other Western institutions are helping religions (well, at least one religion) to impose its restrictions on the rest of society (also here), it won't even be possible to get global consensus that these things should be happening, much less find ways to make them happen.

Items 2, 3, and 4 are doable both logistically and philosophically. (Item 8 probably is, too, but I don't understand the issues well enough to comment.) If the UN could help make those three things happen, along with item 1, the institution would truly be on its way to fullfilling its founding ideals. Perhaps from there it would be ready to take on items 6 and 7.