How the World Can Be Unified

I. The Stories of Four Ordinary People

Six in the morning, Paddington Station, London. James, seventy, stands on the platform waiting for that train which is never on time. He is going to Bristol to see his daughter; they have not seen each other in three months. It is not that he does not want to go — it is that he dares not: a two-and-a-half-hour train ride each way, plus the Underground on both ends, means a whole day consumed by the round trip, and his knees cannot take it.

"This line should have been upgraded in my father's generation," he mutters to himself.

What he does not know is that the upgrade plan for this line has already been discussed for twenty-three years. Twenty-three reports, seven public hearings, four lawsuits — because three landowners do not want the high-speed rail to cross their land. A high-speed line from London to Birmingham, originally planned at forty-nine minutes, is now expected to open in 2033.

James will not live to see that day.

Eight thousand kilometers away, in California's Central Valley, Maria stands at the gate of her farm, looking at the door plastered with court seals in the distance. Three years ago, the California High-Speed Rail Authority wanted to expropriate the forty acres of land passed down in her family for generations. She refused — not over money, but over dignity. "This is the land my grandfather cleared. My father died on this land. Why should they take it just because they say so?"

She fought her case for three years, spent two hundred thousand dollars on lawyers, and sold two tractors. Last week, the court rendered its final judgment: the government has the right of expropriation. She lost. But the rail authority lost too — the project was delayed another two years and its budget increased by another five billion.

On this land, there are no winners.

These four stories take place in four countries, under four systems, within four civilizations. But they point to the same question: can this world really continue like this?

II. The Fundamental Question This Book Seeks to Answer

In an age when nuclear weapons suffice to destroy humanity dozens of times over, in an age when globalization has tightly interwoven the fates of all nations, why does humanity remain mired in division and conflict?

According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, there are still about 12,512 nuclear warheads in the world; the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia alone are enough to destroy human civilization dozens of times over. An accidental escalation like the Cuban Missile Crisis, a miscalculation by a computer system, the infiltration of terrorists, the madness of an extremist leader — any small error may trigger an irreversible catastrophe.

At the same time, global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and resource shortages cannot be met by any single country alone. The global COVID-19 pandemic made it most clear: unless everyone is safe, no one is safe.

These two realities together point to one proposition: humanity must transcend division and move toward unity. This is not a utopian fantasy, but an internal requirement of the logic of survival.

The core question this book seeks to answer is: how is world unity possible?

It searches for the answer in the depths of human nature.

III. The Core Weapon: Pursuing Private Good through Good

The most central discovery of this book can be summed up in one formula: your value equals your ability to satisfy others' private goods through public good.

Private good is the root of all needs.

Private good is the human instinct to "be good to oneself." Hungry, one wants to eat; cold, one wants clothes; sad, one wants comfort; accomplished, one wants recognition. It is not selfishness; it is a neutral, objectively existing instinct of human nature. Without private good, there is no need; without need, there is no creation; without creation, there is no civilization.

This book classifies the private goods of humanity into eleven factors:

The survival layer: preservation, care, compassion

The livelihood layer: enrichment, beauty, pleasure

The social layer: reflection, confidence, strength

The ultimate layer: esteem, freedom

These eleven items are the most underlying driving forces of the human being as a living organism, eternal and unchanging across cultures, eras, institutions, and races.

Public good is the carrier of all value.

Corresponding one-to-one with private good, public good also has eleven factors: preserving others, caring for others, benefiting others, enriching others, enriching others' beauty, delighting others, enlightening others, trusting others, empowering others, honoring others, freeing others.

Your knowledge has value only when it is passed to others through "empowering others." Your products have value only when they satisfy others' needs through "preserving/caring for/enriching others." Your kindness has value only when it is felt by the other party through "honoring/delighting/freeing others."

Without the carriage of public good, all your pursuits of private good are nothing but castles in the air.

Pursuing private good through good: the necessity of rational choice.

So why does humanity choose the path of good? Not because of moral nobility, but because of rational calculation.

Robert Axelrod proved through computer simulation in *The Evolution of Cooperation* that in repeated games, "tit for tat" is the optimal strategy. In a single game, defection may pay; in repeated games, cooperation maximizes long-term benefit.

Harming others ultimately harms oneself — if you hurt others, others will hurt you; this is the principle of conscious reflection, the iron law of human nature. Deception will eventually lose its market, which is why enterprises operate with integrity. Hegemony will eventually decline, which is why nations cooperate for win-win outcomes.

When this recognition ascends from the individual to the nation, and then to the globe, it constitutes the core logic of world unity: a unified world is the best environment for every individual and every nation to maximize their private goods.

IV. The Fivefold Roots of a Divided World

If unity is the rational choice, why is the world still so divided? This book diagnoses fivefold roots:

First, the mindset of pursuing private good through evil. Satisfying one's own private good by damaging, plundering, and dominating the private goods of others. It seems direct and convenient, but in fact violates the principle of conscious reflection. Your domination and oppression of other countries will inevitably arouse their resistance and hostility, ultimately damaging your own private good.

Second, the conflict logic of national private goods. Every nation pursues its own private good, but the manner of pursuit (pursuing private good through evil) makes it impossible for anyone's private good to be realized. Arms races consume resources, trade wars damage economies, ideological confrontation impedes exchange — in the end, there are no winners.

Third, the absence of reason and the limitation of modes of judgment. The thinking of most people remains at the level of sensory perception, public malignancy, private malignancy, and narrow private good, and is easily dominated by short-term interests and emotions. The absence of reason degenerates "democracy" into "populism" and keeps the collective unconscious in a perpetual state of division.

Fourth, the cycle of institutional predicaments. Most existing international institutions were designed within the mindset of "pursuing private good through evil" — the great-power consensus principle of the UN Security Council, the quota-based voting power of the International Monetary Fund, the consensus principle of the WTO all carry a tinge of hegemonic logic. Institutions are the objectification of spirit; to break the institutional predicaments, one must first change the mindset.

Fifth, the internal contradiction of the private-good nation. When a society elevates private good to the highest value, its citizens form a "selfish way of thinking." This thinking can be masked by benefits during periods of economic growth; once the economy declines, conflicts of interest intensify, leading to social tearing and political polarization.

These fivefold roots are interlinked layer by layer, and together point to the structure of human nature: the root of division lies in the structure of human nature, and the foundation of unity also lies in the structure of human nature.

V. The Lesson of China's Experience: The Wisdom of Integration

One of the most distinctive contributions of this book is distilling the wisdom of "integration" from five thousand years of Chinese history.

China's "great unity" was not achieved by eliminating differences, but by creating a framework capable of accommodating differences. Qin Shi Huang's "unified script, unified axle width, and unified weights and measures" did not eliminate the dialects and customs of every region, but created "universal standards" connecting all regions. This thinking of "universal standards" has an important implication for global integration: world unity does not require all countries to adopt the same institutions, but it does require a set of "universal rules" recognized by all countries.

Three core lessons from China's history of integration:

First, integration is not eliminating differences, but creating connections. Like a symphony — different instruments and different parts form a harmonious piece under the conductor; no instrument loses its own character, yet together they create an artistic whole transcending any single instrument.

Second, integration needs institutional guarantee. From the "unified script and axle width" of the Qin and Han dynasties to the "governing according to local customs" of the Yuan and Qing dynasties, Chinese history proves that institutional design is crucial to integration.

Third, integration is a long process. China's five-thousand-year history of integration shows that integration cannot be achieved overnight; it requires the patience of several or even dozens of generations.

Plurality within unity: the highest realm of integration.

"Plurality within unity" was proposed by Fei Xiaotong: "Each culture cherishes its own beauty; appreciate the beauty of others; when the beauties of all are shared, the world is in great harmony."

Each cherishes its own beauty: every nation treasures its own cultural tradition — this is the basis of "plurality."

Appreciating the beauty of others: different nations appreciate and learn from one another — this is the beginning of integration.

Beauties shared by all: the cultures of all nations absorb from one another in their interactions and co-evolve, forming a new shared culture.

Great harmony under heaven: ultimately, a higher-level unity is formed on the basis of differences.

The implication for world unity: global integration is not about eliminating differences, but about creating a "global symphony" framework that accommodates them.

VI. The Gradual Path from Consciousness to Institutions

The theory has been argued; the objections have been answered. The question now is: from the present state of division toward unity, is there a viable path?

The practical path this book proposes is a framework of gradual integration, from consciousness to institutions, from the individual to the globe.

Cultivating consciousness: promoting the upgrade of the collective unconscious.

Everett Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory tells us that the spread of any new idea in society follows an S-curve. At present, the idea of "world unity" may be in the transition from "innovators" to "early adopters." The next task is to move it into the "early majority" stage.

Three paths:

Dissemination of knowledge: letting more people understand the rational necessity of "pursuing private good through good."

Emotional cohesion: through the resonance of art and culture, turning "one human family" from a slogan into a conviction deep in the heart.

Intergenerational transmission: through education, making "global thinking" the instinctive response of the next generation.

Institutional integration: building an institutional framework for global governance.

Three paths:

Economic integration: building a low-loss global system of value exchange, binding the interests of all countries deeply together.

Security integration: shifting from "absolute security" to "common security," making war lose its meaning of existence.

Governance integration: establishing global governance mechanisms that transcend national sovereignty, accumulated step by step through countless "small unities."

The risk of regression and responses.

No grand social transformation can go smoothly. The end of the first wave of globalization (1870-1914) offers a profound lesson: economic globalization ran ahead, political institutions lagged behind, and the absence of global governance mechanisms to coordinate conflicts of interest ultimately led to the outbreak of the First World War and the abrupt halt of globalization.

Mechanisms of response include: flexibility and redundancy in institutional design, the "stabilizer" role of core countries, the "memory" function of the collective unconscious, and the capacity to transform crises.

VII. The Leap to a Stellar Civilization

The grandest vision of this book is connecting world unity with the upgrade of civilization and the mission of interstellar civilization.

In 1964, the Soviet astronomer Kardashev proposed a scale for measuring the level of a civilization's development, based on the amount of energy a civilization can harness. But the Kardashev index has a major flaw: it measures only the "level of energy utilization" and ignores the "level of internal harmony."

A civilization capable of harnessing stellar energy, yet torn within by war, nuclear weapons, and hegemonic rivalry, is in essence still a "Type 0.7" civilization — its energy is used for self-destruction, not for civilizational progress.

True civilizational upgrade requires two dimensions: external energy and internal harmony. Only when both dimensions reach a considerable level can humanity truly call itself a "Type I civilization."

Musk's mission is to "go outward"; this book's mission is to "harmonize inward."

Only with internal harmony does going outward have meaning; only with a unified Earth will a stellar civilization not repeat Earth's mistakes.

If humanity carries Earth's conflicts to Mars, Mars will become a second Earth. If humanity carries nuclear weapons into space, the cosmos will become a new battlefield.

A civilization that pursues private good through evil cannot pass the entrance examination of interstellar society. Any stable system will exclude factors that destabilize the system. The universe, as a super-system, follows the same law.

The leap from 0.7 to 1.0 is humanity's "rite of passage."

This rite of passage has three core tasks: internal unity (eliminating the threat of war), value consensus (forming a basic consensus on the common ground of human nature), and civilizational self-awareness (recognizing humanity's mission as a rare civilization in the universe).

VIII. This Book's Place in the System of Thought

*How Can the World Be Unified* is the core work of the "civilization and the state" module in Guoping Hua's system of thought, and the key work leading from the eight-factor theory of human nature to global governance and the future of civilization.

The core questions it answers are: how is world unity possible, on what basis can it be unified, and how does one move toward unity.

Its relations with other works in the system are as follows:

*The Vanguard Concept* establishes the origin point of the eight-factor model — what a human being is

*On Human Nature* unfolds the philosophical foundation of the eight factors — the underlying logic of good and evil, energy, and civilization

*How Can the World Be Unified* applies the eight-factor model to global governance, answering "how world unity is possible"

*The Civilization of Public Good* applies the eight-factor model to the comparison of institutions, answering "what kind of institution better fulfills people"

*The Ultimate Way of Governance* applies the eight-factor model to the philosophy of governance, answering "after the rule of law, where does human governance go"

*A Community of Shared Happiness* applies the eight-factor model to the future of humanity, answering "how humanity can live well together"

If *The Vanguard Concept* is the "root" of the system and *Civilization Cannot Burn Itself* is its "trunk," then *How Can the World Be Unified* is one of the system's most important "branches" — it turns the theory of human nature into a practical plan for global governance, letting the eight-factor model move from philosophical speculation to the design of civilization.

The core contribution of this book lies in this: for the first time, with a systematic theory of human nature, it demonstrates the inevitability and feasibility of world unity, providing a complete theoretical framework and practical path for humanity's journey toward a community of shared destiny.

IX. The Final Answer

World unity is not a utopian fantasy, but a rational judgment based on the laws of human nature, the principles of consciousness, and the logic of social evolution.

From the laws of human nature, it is possible. Because humanity's pursuit of private good is eternal, and pursuing private good through good is the rational path to maximizing private good.

From historical trends, it is possible. From tribe to city-state, from city-state to nation, from nation to regional alliance, humanity has kept expanding the boundaries of cooperation. The continuation of this trend points to unity at the global level.

From the conditions of reality, it is possible. Nuclear weapons make great-power war meaningless; globalization binds the interests of all countries deeply together; global challenges compel all countries to cooperate.

The universe took 13.7 billion years to evolve from chaos into matter, matter into life, life into consciousness, and consciousness into a reason capable of reflecting on itself. Humanity is the "eye" and "brain" that the universe evolved, to observe and know itself.

If humanity destroys itself in a nuclear war, the universe loses its capacity for self-knowledge.

If we do not unite, even the universe will not agree.

This is not mysticism, but philosophical inference based on the logic of evolution. When humanity recognizes the inevitability of "pursuing private good through good" and adjusts its conduct accordingly, it achieves the unity of the "way of humanity" and the "way of heaven."

Humanity's way is Heaven's way.

When individuals follow the principle of "pursuing private good through good," they can maximize their private good; when nations follow the principle of "pursuing private good through good," they can achieve peace and development; when humanity as a whole follows the principle of "pursuing private good through good," it can realize world unity and become a member of interstellar society.