The Goals of DecidingToBeBetter

by Marshall Brain

D2BB's Motto

DecidingToBeBetter: A force for self-improvement, goodness and togetherness that helps humanity to eliminate evil

D2BB's Goals

DecidingToBeBetter has six goals:

  1. The first goal of DecidingToBeBetter is to help our members, as individuals, to become better human beings. Members decide what they would like to improve in their lives and then begin being better in their chosen areas. DecidingToBeBetter offers classes, experiences, meetings, activities, etc. that help members to be better. DecidingToBeBetter communities also provide a variety of services that make members' lives tangibly better. Members of DecidingToBeBetter place the highest importance on values, ethical behavior and integrity. They work to improve in these areas by using things like the Ten Steps.

  2. The second goal is to create internet and local communities of DecidingToBeBetter members, where members can meet on a regular basis and form real, lasting friendships with one another. See this page to understand why friendship is so important to health and well-being. Through these friendships, members may also share ideas, start projects, launch businesses, create classes, etc.

  3. The third goal of DecidingToBeBetter to is actively help members in their efforts to find happiness and fulfillment. See this page and this page for starting points, as well as books on the books page.

  4. The fourth goal is for DecidingToBeBetter members to work together to make their local communities better through projects, good works, fund-raising drives, enhanced awareness, community-facing classes, etc.

  5. The fifth goal is to help nations to be better through moral/ethical behavior, transparency, trust and global cooperation.

  6. The sixth goal is to create a better world by helping the human race as a whole to be better.
The sixth goal brings with it an obvious question: How can we accomplish this? The page on the meaning of life offers one way. By working on worldwide goals as a species, we give meaning to our existence as a species.

By getting our house in order and ending the tremendous, pointless and unjust suffering that is currently endured by so many people around the world, we make our world a much better place for everyone.

Ultimately, the goal of DecidingToBeBetter is to end evil within ourselves, and then within our species, so that we can create heaven on earth for all people. The Paradox of Epicurus is well-know and much repeated:

But really, it misses the point. The Paradox of Epicurus tries to pin the blame for evil on somebody else. Unfortunately, the fact is that human beings are solely responsible for evil, and we are therefore the only ones who can bring an end to it. The paradox should be rephrased as follows: As a general rule, people would like to end evil. If you ran a poll asking, "Would you like to see evil end?", the overwhelming majority would answer "Yes!" Yet we find ourselves facing evil constantly in the forms of war, poverty, crime, corruption, environmental damage and so on. Whence cometh evil? Evil comes because we tolerate it - in our leaders, institutions, societies and ourselves - even condone it. We are often active, though unwitting, participants in the process of evil. Many scientific experiments (e.g. the Stanford Prison Experiment) and world events (e.g. the Holocaust) demonstrate this uncomfortable fact of life.

We, as an intelligent species, are able to end evil. And we know that every living thing on the planet - including every human being - would be far better off if evil were eliminated. Yet we are surrounded by evil because, at present, we choose to tolerate it as a species. It seems that we have never made the conscious decision to be better as a species, and thus we stagnate in mediocrity, never reaching anything close to humanity's true potential for goodness. DecidingToBeBetter's goal is to be a force for goodness that helps bring humanity into a new era free of evil.

Where do you stand?

Is this a pipe dream? Is the idea of ending evil a fantasy, given that humanity has been plagued by evil since its inception? No, it is not a fantasy. Think about it this way - what is your personal stance on evil? You have four options:

  1. To be evil yourself
  2. To encourage evil in others
  3. To tolerate evil
  4. To work toward eliminating evil
Most people currently default to option #3. But why? Why not move yourself to option #4? Why not become a force for good and actively work with others who hope to end evil, in all of its many forms, worldwide? Why not Join DecidingToBeBetter?

Ending evil is actually a part of our wiring. If we would grab hold of the idea of evil's end and actually get to work solving the problem, evil and suffering could vanish. This excerpt from chapter 14 of the book Authentic Happiness is enlightening:

Members of DecidingToBeBetter can and will help to accelerate this process so that "the calm" - the end of suffering and evil - arrives much sooner than it otherwise would.

Here is a vision for the human species: We will create Heaven on Earth for every human being - billions of people living together peacefully, without suffering, in a happy, friendly, fulfilling, environmentally sustainable way.

What does Heaven on Earth mean? It means that each and every person on the planet has access to an an abundant supply of healthy food and clean water. That each and every person has access to luxurious housing and clothing. That we are all safe. That we can all communicate with everyone. That we all have free and open access to education and entertainment. That cutting edge health care is available freely to everyone, and the cutting edge is advancing as quickly as possible, curing more and more diseases and ailments as fast as we can. That we can all access abundant, pollution-free sources of energy and methods of transportation. And so on. We do all of that in an environmentally sustainable way. Obviously there would be no wars - we will find peaceable ways to resolve our differences. Obviously we would need for it to be environmentally sustainable - otherwise we poison the planet and destroy ourselves.

This is a worthy goal for our species, and one that we can easily achieve through ethical behavior and cooperation.

You might find yourself thinking that the idea of ending evil and creating Heaven on Earth sounds a little ridiculous right now, or perhaps even impossible. That's because our thinking is so backwards at the moment. We believe it is "normal" for half of humanity to be living on $1 a day, and for millions of children to be dying of starvation each year. However, robots (see also Manna) could make it possible to transform human society. In fact, robots could make it easy to achieve Heaven on Earth if we design society to take advantage of them in this way. What if we get creative as a species and make it happen? That goal is an important part of the DecidingToBeBetter mindset. Let's work together to make the human species better, radically improving the lives of everyone on the planet in the process. We will all benefit from it, as will the planet.

About the Logo

The logo represents DecidingToBeBetter's goal of helping individuals, communities, nations and the world to be better; to become the best they can be.