PDA

View Full Version : The Hedonistic Imperative

kevinquinnyo
17th December 2009, 10:31 PM
I haven't thought about this in a while, and probably wouldn't have, if not for a post by Prometheus in another thread.

Read The Hedonistic Imperative. (http://hedweb.org)


The Hedonistic Imperative outlines how genetic engineering and nanotechnology will abolish suffering in all sentient life.

Comments, criticisms, analysis, anything, 100% welcome and encouraged. I would like to hear what everyone thinks about this.

(By the way, I realize the prose is a bit irritating at times, but the concept is interesting.)
KingMerv00
17th December 2009, 11:13 PM
The Hedonistic Imperative outlines how genetic engineering and nanotechnology will abolish suffering in all sentient life.


Will? Don't you mean COULD?
arthwollipot
17th December 2009, 11:15 PM
Why would we want to abolish pain?
KingMerv00
17th December 2009, 11:29 PM
Why would we want to abolish pain?

Cuz it's painful.
arthwollipot
17th December 2009, 11:30 PM
Cuz it's painful.Yeah, but despite the claims of that site, it's also useful.
kellyb
18th December 2009, 12:14 AM
Yeah, but despite the claims of that site, it's also useful.

For survival.
It generally sucks and it's usefulness ends there.
luchog
18th December 2009, 01:07 AM
For survival.
It generally sucks and it's usefulness ends there.

A lot of people would disagree with you. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDSM)

(Warning: link is mildly NSFW)
arthwollipot
18th December 2009, 04:14 AM
I'd prefer not to have to wait until I can smell it to know that I've been burned, thank you very much.
GreenLines
18th December 2009, 04:35 AM
For survival.
It generally sucks and it's usefulness ends there.

Try building muscle without pain. Without it you could damage yourself to the point that you were unrecoverable.
Ryan O'Dine
18th December 2009, 05:04 AM
Surely pain is not the only possible warning system. If "genetic engineering and nanotechnology" could provide a method just as effective but without the suffering, I'd say power to it.

A nice set of ringtones, perhaps? :cool:
PixyMisa
18th December 2009, 05:53 AM
A warning system has to be sufficiently bothersome that people don't just ignore it. That's exactly what we've evolved in pain.

Which doesn't mean an off-switch wouldn't be useful now and then. "Okay, yes, I know sprained my ankle/ruptured my spleen/broke my neck. It's been attended to. Don't bother me unless the condition changes."
CriticalSock
18th December 2009, 06:03 AM
Yeah, but despite the claims of that site, it's also useful.

I had a friend at school who couldn't feel any pain. I don't know if it was any pain anywhere, but he certainly couldn't feel pain in his limbs. One day while playing hockey someone caught his hand with a wild swing and laid his palm open.. and he didn't notice. He kept playing until someone noticed that his hockey stick was soaked in blood.

Oh yeah! Then there's Thomas Covenant in the books by Stephen Donaldson (sp?). Constantly having to do visual checks to make sure he wasn't cut.

Pain is necessary.
Ryan O'Dine
18th December 2009, 06:55 AM
Who's to say human engineering won't reach the point where the body is made virtually indestructible? Or where we stick our biological bodies in vaults, and roam the world by teleoperated robots? Where, in short, pain simply becomes unnecessary?

I think the deeper question here is: If you develop a suffering-free person, would they still be human?

Frankly, I'm not sure how I'd answer that.
KingMerv00
18th December 2009, 07:13 AM
Yeah, but despite the claims of that site, it's also useful.

I'd prefer not to have to wait until I can smell it to know that I've been burned, thank you very much.

Try building muscle without pain. Without it you could damage yourself to the point that you were unrecoverable.

The point of the OP is that there could be some theotetical super technology that does away with the uses of pain entirely. Perhaps machines will build muscle for us, extinguish fires, and shield us from damage.