[Fiware-opencall-help] We Are A Group Of 95 University Professors

[Better World]

Hello,

We are a group of 95 university professors from a few countries. We teach in many different fields.
We get together once every two weeks, using English as our common tongue in our discussions.


Among the topics we discuss:
1. Stopping wars through the power of ideas
2. The future of the human species
3. Transhumanism
4. Helping poor countries develop
5. Religion
6. Creating a more united world (same language, currency)
7. Genetic engineering
8. Ending world hunger
9. Stopping aging and living to be 1000 years old
10. Perfecting agriculture in every country
11. Creating a better voting system
12. Alien life
13. Math. Finding better methods to teach math. How more math can make the world a better place.
14. Wealth distribution
15. Improving democracy; where democracy fails
16. The perfect education system

We believe that bringing together the best ideas about a topic and showing them to politicians and billionaires can change the world.

The people in the group are all teaching at the top 1000 global universities.

If you would like to collaborate with us, please add me on Skype, using with the following account: betterworld2006 at gmail.com.

If you can't join the discussion on Skype, but want to contribute with ideas you can send them to us using your email. Your ideas will be presented to the entire group. Please write to betterworld2006 at gmail.com.

The ideas we discuss will be kept secret until the group decides to email them to country leaders anonymously, or to publish them in a digital book or as separate articles.

We do what we do in order to fulfill our goal of making the world a better place.


Below are the main ideas from some of the group's discussions.


A. Message for politicians from every country to help them improve the education system
"I have some ideas that can be used to increase the education level of a country. In the paragraphs below I give some suggestions about what the government should do to achieve this result.


Build new schools and create classrooms that contain no more than 10 children each.
Teaching 20-30 children at once is not efficient. When teaching a lesson to only 10 children, the speed at which children can learn increases by at least 100%. This is because in a classroom with only 10 children the students are more engaged with what the teacher says. Why? Because there is less noise, and everyone has to pay attention because the teacher can see each student, as they are seated close by. Another reason for the increased quality of learning is the fact that the teacher can evaluate every child every two weeks by testing five children during each class he or she teaches. In this way even those children who in the current education system would have bad grades can thrive alongside those who get good grades.


Decreasing class size is an investment that is worthwhile because with one change children become twice as well educated. Furthermore, after a few years of educating people in this way, a greater increase in economic growth and scientific discoveries will result, making an impact for many years to come.


Create free online courses in math, biology, physics, chemistry etc.
Make each course in video, pdf and paper format. Make all digital materials accessible for download on an official website. Ideally, five to ten excellent teachers should collaborate in creating each of these courses, in order to make them as good as possible. These courses should be equal in quality or even better than the courses taught at universities throughout the country. Through taking these courses, every citizen will be able to learn whatever he or she wishes independently and at no cost.


Teach free math courses in every city.
Math is the basis for every science. Those who know math can easily learn physics, chemistry, and computer science. Indeed, math is the common denominator. By learning math people learn to think logically and rationally. Contrary to popular belief, math can also be useful to those who work in a field that has nothing to do with science, given the improvement in logical thinking that comes with studying math. Therefore, these math classes would help people of every age. For those who have already finished high school or a university, these courses would help them recall the math they learned in school. For those who didn't learn well math in school and want a second chance at becoming good at math, these courses would offer that second chance. And for those who just want to train their minds and become more intelligent? These courses would offer a rich challenge. Done right, those who participate in these courses would come to see math as fun, since solving math problems can be as pleasurable as playing chess.


Add New Subjects to the High School Curriculum

1. Memorization techniques. Memorization techniques can increase by at least 50% the speed at with a child can commit new material to memory. Furthermore, the child will be motivated to learn more and better, because he or she will find it easier to learn new material and feel a greater sense of control over the learning process.

2. Nutrition. Children should learn the basics of nutrition so that throughout their lives they don't try diets that are harmful to their health. All children should learn what nutrients are contained in each food and in what quantities, what the daily nutritional requirements of the human body are, and what effect the consumption of too little or too many calories has. Since some children may want to become vegetarian at some point in their lives, they should learn what constitutes a protein, which proteins contain all the required amino acids, and how to combine plant proteins to obtain complete proteins.

3.Fast typing. In the next 40 years almost every person alive will be able to use a computer and everyone will have at least one computer at home, making efficient typing an essential skill. There are typing training methods that allow you to become extremely fast at typing in only a few hours a week. You will be able to type many times faster than by using the traditional method of typing, and will make fewer mistakes and no longer need to look at the keyboard.

4. Independent lifelong learning. There should be a new field of study, dedicated to helping a child develop his or her ability to learn new subjects on his or her own without supervision. Every field is changing rapidly and, as humans, we are required to learn a lot of new things throughout our lives. What we learn in school may well become obsolete 20-30 years after we graduate.Therefore learning how to study new things on your own is vital. 

5. Public speaking.


The benefits of applying the suggestions I have made above are higher national economic growth for many years and a huge increase in the number of highly educated people."


B. Message for politicians from every country to convince them to change the official language of the country to English
"I have some ideas about why we should switch to a common official language.


How might a country benefit by switching to a language like English?
a. By being better protected in case of war as an ally of other countries that speak English.

b. By allowing its people to live, work, and study more easily in countries where English is spoken.

c. By having significantly more and more beneficial economic partnerships with English-speaking countries.

d. By collaborating more easily on international scientific projects.

e. By enabling its people to have access to books, scientific articles, and TV shows created in the English language, which would increase the education level in the country.

f. By increasing the number of computer users. Furthermore, switching to English will also improve people's computer skills.

g. By increasing its economic development.

h. By gaining access to the cultures of English-speaking countries.

i. By increasing tourism within the country.

j. By attracting more large international companies to their country.

k. By being one of the first countries to switch to a common international language and thereby setting an example for other countries.



What would happen if every country in the world switched to one official language like English?
a. There would be more and more ambitious scientific projects because more people would be able to participate.

b. Everyone in the world would have access to all the books, music, movies, TV shows created by 7+ billion people directly in a language they could understand.

c. It would be easier for everyone to live, study, and work anywhere in the world.

d. There would be fewer wars, making it less probable that we would destroy ourselves as a species.

e. Writers would put more time into their books, improving their quality, because their audience would now be 7+ billion people.


Why switch to English and not another language?
a. English is already spoken by more than 1 billion people.

b. All the countries where English is spoken natively are very developed, making it more attractive for other countries to switch to the new language.

c. English is a mature language that has evolved over thousands of years (as opposed to constructed languages like Volapuk).

d. Computer languages are in English.

e. English is a language people like using after they learn it.


How might a country navigate this switch from one official language to another?
a. Pass a law that requires all citizens of the country to take a 6-month free English course. If 20% of the people of the country are taught English each year, within 5 years all of the nation's people would be speaking fluent English. Give people a cumulative exam and a degree at the end of the course to certify their English fluency.

b. Pass a law that requires at least half of the courses in schools to be taught in English.

c. English-speaking countries would send thousands of teachers to other countries."


C. Ideas to send to politicians from every country to show them how to stop world hunger

"I have an idea that can be used to end world hunger in one to two years.

Worldwide, 21,000 people die of starvation each day. This happens because almost one billion people live on less than $1.25 per day.
If 1 billion people from the richest countries would each work 2 more minutes per day they could save the lives of the 21,000 people each day. This is because on average a person makes $0.10 in those 2 minutes. If a billion people donate each $0.10, $100 million are added daily to a global fund. If we convince more than 1 billion people to donate, more money will be gathered. There is nothing better a person can do with those 2 minutes a day.

Helping others makes people happier. Donating $0.10 per day is the best thing a person can do during a lifetime if he or she wants to get to heaven. This is because with that money you save thousands of lives.

The death of almost eight million people each year from starvation is comparable to how many people died in each year during World War II. The number of people who died during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was about 200,000 people, which is almost equal to the number of people who die of starvation every 10 days.

I believe that the first country to pass the donation law will set a model for the rest of the world. The people who manage to pass the law will most probably win the Nobel Peace Prize. Solving the world's hunger problem would be the greatest humanitarian achievement in all of human history.

The people who are saved could, in time, become more educated and become lawyers, doctors, engineers, and other professionals."


Kind regards,
..