Do we live in the best of all possible worlds?

This question is one that humans have entertained for centuries. With so many people

constantly suffering from smaller and larger problems, it is difficult to not wonder if this is how

life and the world should be and if this is the best things ever could be. Different religions and

worldviews give different answers.

Many people would agree, that the world in its current state is not good. It may be better than

before, but at best, it is neutral, with many problems. ’Between 702 and 828 million people in

the world faced hunger in 2021’ (https://www.fao.org/hunger/en/), and ‘Approximately 280

million people in the world have depression

(https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression). Even in first-world countries,

people have complicated lives filled with the smallest daily annoyances and injustices, that can

make one question the existence of fairness. Stress over work, social anxiety, illnesses, and

personal disagreements haunt our daily lives, making a perfect otherworld, which justifies the

sufferings of this life, the only acceptable option for some. Certainly, our world could be better,

if the cashier wasn’t so mean, if we could afford a larger house, or if I could celebrate New Year

in Bora-Bora, but these things do not impact the whole world. Such problems are our problems

only, and the universe does not care. Things could be going better or a lot worse for me, and it

would not change a thing in the life of a Ukrainian child trapped in Kyiv. Some things going

better for one person can also cause the misfortune of others, balancing out the overall

“goodness” or “badness” in the world.

But what is a good, or the best world? Who should it be good for? Is not existing at all worse

than a life barely accomplishing anything worthwhile? Many things are considered „good” in

our society, like leading a healthy life, being kind to others, doing things we love, loving our

family, recycling our trash, and using animal cruelty-free products. Things that are

„wholesome”, fun or positive in any way are also said to be good. Today, anything that makes

someone happy is good, even if it has negative consequences in the long run, for example, a

new iPhone which is bad for the environment in more than one way.

Today’s cancel culture dubs anything mildly discomforting to anyone as offensive, bad and

something you will go to hell for. This has positive sides, like the loss of popularity of racist or

homophobic creators and celebrities, but it also has a negative side. On some social media sites,

it is considered offensive, for example, to say that being overweight is unhealthy, or to

congratulate someone on their progress in their journey to lose weight, work out more and eat

healthily. Anything that someone dislikes in any way, sometimes even the truth is considered

offensive, and „bad”, although in my opinion, this whole phenomenon is quite negative.

So if humanity did not exist, it would not be better for us, but would it be better for the planet?

’A world without modern humans could have been a land of giants.’

(https://www.livescience.com/what-if-humans-never-existed-on-earth), and many species

exterminated by humanity, like the Dodo and the Tasmanian Devil could still be alive. That

situation would be better for these species, and the earth’s biodiversity. According to a 2016

Time.com article, humans are the primary cause of global warming, which is almost certainly

“bad” for most lifeforms. All in all, the damage humanity has caused nature over the past

centuries is so great, that if humanity had never existed, it would have been very “good”. If one
species not existing could be or could have been so positive for so many other species, is it a

good or a bad thing? If an all-powerful species came to be and enslaved humanity, would it be

good or bad for the world? If no life existed, and the earth was just a bare rock, would it be

good or bad for the universe?

Although it is sometimes nice to try to look at things objectively, this is not a real possibility for

us. We are human beings, and we are people, so the only things that are „good”, are things that

are good for us. If a child in the USA receives their dream toy for Christmas, I will not be happy

because of it, as it does not concern me. However the earth might have flourished in our

absence, it would never have been a good world for us, as we would not have existed to see it.

Any world in which we do not exist is a bad world for us, and in this, we can never be objective.

From this viewpoint, for humanity, the only good thing is the survival of our species. With this

in mind, we still do not live in the best world possible. If the survival of the human race is the

objective, anything that causes humans to die, for example, any disease, famine, war, murder,

suicidal depression or physical fight, is bad. All of these things are found in our world. Dome

things, like natural catastrophes, cannot be evaded, but anything done or made by humans that

end human lives, shows that we are not living in a good world, as these things should be

possible to avoid.

In conclusion, there are many things, that could be a lot better in our world, but there is

nothing more important for any of us than being alive.