Reboot the Future is a small foundation on a big mission - to create a more compassionate and sustainable world with The Golden Rule at its core.
Call us hopeless optimists but we dream of a world where everyone lives by the Golden Rule, (or at least tries to). And this isn't purely a philanthropic endeavor, science has shown that treating others as you would wish to be treated will lead to your own happiness.
“There is a lot of good, if emerging, scientific work suggesting people have an innate sense of fairness built into them and that the golden rule captures much of that innate moral sense,” says Kristen Monroe, director of the University of California Irvine Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality. “A lot of people instinctively follow it.”
Not only are we programmed for fairness, we benefit from it. When you start acting in accordance to the Golden Rule, you'll first notice the most obvious: that your actions are undoubtedly good for the people you help and are kind to. But you’ll also notice something else... people will treat you better too.
That is no small result. It's huge, it's potentially life-changing. For that reason - without even getting into the fact that the Golden Rule would make our world a better place in a larger context - we recommend that everyone makes the Golden Rule a focus of their actions.
Just try it. And see what happens.
Of course, because we work for Reboot the Future, all our team members strive to live by The Golden Rule. Whether it's a quest to save the world, or a lesson in parenting, we all have our own unique interpretations and have learned our own lessons in applying it to our daily lives.
"Putting something as ethically substantive as the Golden Rule at the heart of how we organise society strikes me as a task that is both vital and urgent. There is nothing I would rather be doing than working to help make that happen."
"I’m in this because compassion, connection and community will be more important than ever as we face an uncertain future. In the face of the climate crisis, we need 'good humans' more than ever – and the Golden Rule sums that up for me. That's the kind of future I want for my children and for all of us."
"One of the great things about the Golden Rule is it is such a wonderful, simple tool for parenting. Asking a child if their treatment of another (usually their sibling!) is how they like to be treated is a great way of getting them to reflect on their behaviour. It's an infectious way to live. When you treat others with compassion and empathy, it starts to rub off on those close to you."
"I can't think of a better way to phrase how I strive to move through the world than the Golden Rule - with compassion for all life on Earth. I'm a vegan activist and while veganism is my cause, it is not my goal. My goal is compassion. Living plant-based is just a means to try and get there."
"For me the Golden Rule is about fairness. It’s a lens through which you can reflect on the critical issues of our time, whether that’s inequality, exclusion or climate change. By asking 'would you like to be treated like that? Is it fair?', we have a universal principal that can hold all of us to account, including those with control over the levers of power."
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