Philosophers will be kings

There are three perpetual beings of life on this planet:

Earth
Virus
Species

Earth would include dirt, water, plants – anything involved in the solar cycle
Virus would include diseases, cancers, or illnesses that any sort of plant or species could contract
Species would include any living organism, including most importantly, humans.

Each of the three perpetual beings can work to the detriment of life by either the forces of nature or carelessness of humanity, through:

Natural disaster
Disease
Human conflict

In the event of one of the aforementioned catastrophe’s were to occur, it is the responsibility of the government to intervene and provide:

Relief for natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina,
Healthcare for preventable diseases/illnesses,
And security from continual human conflict – during times of war or in maintaining law and order.

Beyond these three responsibilities, a government must serve to educate its people how to prevent these three catastrophe’s from happening. Thus you have a fourth, and endlessly subjective, responsibility of government: education.

You cannot specifically define what people can or should learn. You can only offer them the opportunity to do so. So the more opportunities a place offers to learn, the higher the chances citizens will prepare themselves for the future.

I think a smart government would promote opportunities to learn how to live a low-impact, healthy lifestyle and work with people to promote appeasement rather than conflict. What would those opportunities look like? Going by the theory of the Wisdom of Crowds, if you asked enough people, I think you’d find your answer.