What should be the goal of civilization?

Ten years ago I would say “To reach for the stars”. Now I’m not sure? I would say to eliminate scarcity. Or to eliminate suffering.

To become civilized I suppose.

I like @RedDeerGuy1‘s answer. I would agree; to minimize suffering and inequality world-wide, including ending wars, and to mitigate the effects of climate change as much as possible.

To consume and convert all matter in the cosmos into paperclips.

To make humans immortal.

For all concerned to be civil.

Right now it should probably be to avoid its own destruction

I second @RedDeerGuy1.

To minimize suffering and curtail corruption.

We already know corruption exists, but we can all still have better lives while the rich get richer.

Like do a massive overhaul of sweat shops and dangerous resource mining environments. Why do we have to exploit children and also make them work in bad environments? Set up a water station and bring some gas station sandwiches lol.

To end suffering, end racism, end war, to strive for a common good for ALL peoples. Betterment for all, all for one and one for all.

Love God, love people.

Survival is the only goal. Yet there will always be an end.

The flip answer would be “develop a better Hot Pocket”.
My serious answer would have to acknowledge the need to end hunger and suffering.

Liberty Equality Fraternity

Certainly in the short term we should try to reduce pain and suffering and eliminate war. Then what? There is something to be said for @RedDeerGuy1 ‘s original answer. There is a danger of becoming lazy and complacent, as suggested by Nietzsche’s idea of the Last Man.

There seem to be two questions in this one. What should be the goal of civilization? Every civilization has always had the goal of expansion. As a civilization grows, the population grows and more is needed to support the growth…the needs of the people that make up the civilization. Those needs can be met in one of three ways: seize more space and more resources, find more efficient ways of making those resources, or reduce the population.

But the second question is far more interesting. If simpler times were better, should we shelve the technology? Alvin Tofler wrote the book Future Shock back in 1970 (I think). It was a look at how technological advances had changed society and civilization. The basic conclusion was that the massive influx of technology in a relatively short period of times had a huge effect on society…lots of unintended consequences. Whether they were good or bad is up to the reader to decide. One example is the Barbie Doll. Plastics became the new thing and now even dolls could be made of plastics easily. But when Barbie came out, society was at a point where dolls were passed down through the generations. There was emotional attachment to dolls in many cases. So Mattel decided to push a new idea: if you bring in your old doll, we will give you a brand new Barbie Doll! Their thinking was that they could make up the cost on all the “extras” that would have to be bought with the Barbie. But the unintended impact is that it changed how people looked at things. There was no more emotional attachment to things so everything started to become disposable. People began realizing they could just replace the old with the new. That led to huge landfills, companies started getting rid of the idea of “working your way to the top” in favor of “bring in new blood” which resulted in a society that moved around a lot…following the job. Neighborhoods began changing and the closeness of those neighborhood went away. People began to not know their neighbors.

I don’t think shelving technology is the answer, but recognizing the ripple effect of technology IS important.

First end wars. End leaderships posturing for a war. Then ask, now what?

But wars make a lot of people very wealthy, and puts poor people to work slows down over population.

The real answer would be, end greed.
If we could end greed,the rest of the answers would fall into place but sadly I don’t ever see that happening.

There is no should.

To me the goal of civilization is to make everybody comfortable and happy. Arrange our affairs so everyone can have a safe place to sleep, food, and education and work opportunities .