The hedonistic imperative

Abstract

This manifesto argues that nanotechnology and genetic engineering will eventually eliminate aversive experience from the living world. The author predicts the eradication of pain, both physical and mental, as well as all other forms of unpleasantness. A three-stage biological program is outlined. The first stage involves modifying the mesolimbic dopamine system, the brain’s reward circuitry, by increasing the number of dopaminergic neurons and reducing feedback inhibition. The second stage involves enhancing the function of serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with calm and well-being. The final stage involves the use of gene therapy to permanently eliminate the genetic basis of suffering. The author argues that this program is both instrumentally rational, because it fulfills human desires for happiness, and ethically mandatory, because it will maximize value in the world. Value is construed as a distinct feature of conscious experience. It is an intrinsic property of the natural world. In consequence, the states of mind of our ecstatic descendants will be inherently more valuable than the relatively worthless psychiatric slumlands of our own era. The author predicts that the widespread adoption of psychoactive drugs in the near future will pave the way for a transition into a post-Darwinian era of ubiquitous well-being. – AI-generated abstract.