As necessity is the mother of invention, urgency is the father of action."~Anonymous
How much time do we have?
Impossible to know, but we have some worrying clues.
Scientists warn us that we have only a few years left to halt the worst effects of the climate crisis. Estimates range from "it’s already too late" to as little as five to as much as 20 years - but the urgency is clear.
Violent destructive wars between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, and others are of particular concern. Moreover, sabre-rattling between nuclear powers has reached a new 40-year high, coupled with a renewed disregard for international treaties on nuclear disarmament. It is, of course, possible that none of these nations will use nuclear weapons, but that is a poor substitute for actual legislation outlawing them. Actual disarmament is an achievable goal, even if it appears completely improbable.
Artificial intelligence may be the most complex and perhaps the most dangerous threat we face. Its exponential growth is sure to wreak havoc on civilization. Our civilizations are built on trust, and AI, with its rather shocking ability to mimic human voice, human writing, human imagery, human likenesses, etc., will test our abilities to recognize that which is real and that which is created by artificial intelligence.
Even the most optimistic projections for any one of these three existential threats demand immediate attention and immediate action.
We have needed to take action on climate change for decades now, and although the reasons for the lack of action are multitude, competition, rather than cooperation, between nation-states is the biggest blockade to serious action. A World Federation with sovereignty over nation-states in these areas would establish nation-by-nation guidelines for percentage reductions in CO2 emissions. These would be legally binding and would have serious penalties associated with them for noncompliance.
War, described as "the greatest failure of humankind," involves state-sanctioned mass murder. It is universally condemned by the citizens of the world, and should obviously be illegal and subject to the same penalties that murder between individuals would engender. A World Federation would enact legislation to make war and the possession of weapons of mass destruction illegal.
Artificial intelligence and other dangerous technologies threaten our very existence. The very real and dangerous scenarios we can imagine are likely only a small percentage of the threats - most of which we cannot even conceive. A global government would establish and enforce regulations on the development of AI. The world, acting in concert, would also need to develop "good" AI to counteract the malicious AI that will inevitably be created by bad actors and pure profit seekers.
We believe a World Federation is the only credible way to resolve these existential issues. These forces are relentless. To hold them at bay, half-measures will never suffice. If we are convinced that this is the only way out, we must refocus our time, energy and resources on this project, above all others.
There is literally no scenario that would suggest any other time than right now for taking action.