On the one hand emotion is the origin of all our problems. On a personal level, of course, but also on a broader scale. Would there be wars, if everyone would sensibly contemplate a better world? Would there be famine? Take doctors in third-world countries. Rather then trying to solve the problems in a rational, long-term, and cold manner, they wish to heal the natives, give birth to their children, "make things better". The only result is overpopulation, which ignites a downhill spiral: We keep more people alive; more people become starved and sick to death; we have more people to keep alive. Ultimately, better healthcare in the third world has resulted in the fact that over 6,000 people die of aids every single day, in my objective opinion the greatest and most underrated disaster that has ever occurred (and the figures are still rising). Far greater, however, is the number of innocent third-world residents who die every day of a range of diseases, malnutrition, and other unnatural causes. Still, our televised news reports on murders on a daily basis, as if that can hold even a match to the destruction that is mainly "our" fault. And we make it worse for them everyday, as we have been doing since we discovered the vastness of the world, all because of acting on the emotions provoked by nationalism, religion, and short-term care of the needy (there are other causes, of course—egotism, greed, simplicity, and oblivion to the fact that white men are virtually no different from the rest of the racial spectrum—but these are also hardly pragmatic issues).

And yet, if we have no emotion, what is the point of improving the world?