4.

David Pearce: Hedonisticlmperativel1995]

4.1. Introduction

A prominent ■gurewithin Transhumanism,the American-Britishphilosopher

David Pearce,is co-founder (with Nick Bostrom) of the World Transhumanist
Association(1998),rebrandedand incorporatedasHumanity+. The aim of this
nonpro■torganizationis the developmentand promotion of human—enhance—
ment technologiesthat overcometraditional views about the humans.During
the late nineties the term ‘singularity' had just emergedin the discussionbe-
tweenTranshumanists,stronglyin■uencedby Hans Moravec'searlierviews(see
the previous chapterin this book), describedas “the point at which arti■cial
intelligencesurpasses that of humanity,which will allow the convergenceof hu-
man and machineconsciousness“.Pearceis also a fellow of the Institute for
Ethicsand EmergingTechnologies,and sits on the futurist advisoryboardof the
LifeboatFoundation.
Pearceis alsoknown asa proponent of animal rights andthereforea vegan,
which hasgreatlyin■uencedveganismamong Transhumanists.I-Iestressesthat
humansought to avoid cruelty to animals He also arguesthat human society
hasto redesignthe globalecosystemsothat animalsdo not sufferin the wild. He
hasproposeda “cross-species globalanalogueof the welfarestate”(Kent, Pearce
2009),suggestingthat humanity might eventually“reprogrampredators”to lim-
it predation,reducing the suffering of prey animals.Fertility regulation could
maintain herbivorepopulationsat sustainablelevels,“a more civilized and com-

1 Hays, S. A. “Transhumanisrn”.https:Ilwww.britanniea.comltopicltranshumnism [ac~

15Nov.2020].Accordingto the samearticle,the term ‘singularity’hasscienti■corigins
cessed
and was created as a metaphor drawn from astrophysicsand referring to the point of hyper—
densematerial at the center of a black hole which generatesits intense gravitational pull. From
a socialaspect.singularitywasthe emergenceof the notionthatsocialandculturalinstitutions
includingnationalandinternational governmentalorganizations—wouldbe largelyirrele-
-
vantto thetrajectoryof technological
development asmarketforcesandthe natureof techno-
logical progresswould drive humanity to approximately the same endpoint regardlessof social
and cultural in■uences.Also, social institutions (such as religion. traditional notions of mar-
riage and child rearing, and Western perspectivesof freedom) not only can in■uencethe tra-
but couldultimatelyretardor haltit.
development
jectoryof technological
David Pearce HedoniitieImperative[1995] 59

passionatepolicy option than famine,predation,and disease”(Dvorsky,Pearce This feelingof absolutewell—being will surpassanything contemporaryhuman
2014). neurochemistrycan imagine,let alonesustain.The storygetsbetter.Post—human
Pearce’sself-publishedinternet manifesto, “The Hedonistic Imperative” statesof magicaljoy will bebiologicallyre■ned.multiplied and intensi■edindef~
(1995), outlines how pharmacology,geneticengineering,nanotechnologyand initely. Notions of what now passesfor tolerablygoodmentalhealthare likely to
neurosurgerycould convergeto eliminate all forms of unpleasantexperience be superseded.They will be written off as mood-congruentpathologiesof the
from human and non-human life. replacingsufferingwith “gradientsof bliss”. primordial Darwinian psyche.Suchugly thoughtsand feelingswill be diagnosed
Pearcehascalledit the “abolitionist project". as typical of the tragic lives of emotional primitives from the previous era. In
In Pearce'sown words in the abstractof “The Hedonist Imperative”, the time, the deliberatere-creationof today’sstate—spectrum of normal waking and
text “outlines a strategyto eradicatesufferingin all sentientlife. The abolitionist dreamingconsciousness may beoutlawed as crueland immoral.
project is ambitious,implausible,but technicallyfeasible.It is defendedhere on Suchspeculationsmay currently soundfantastical.Yet the ideasbehindthis
ethical utilitarian grounds.Geneticengineeringand nanotechnologyallow Ho- manifestomay one day be regardedas intellectuallytrite albeit todaymorally
—
mo sapiensto discardthe legacy—wetware of our evolutionary past. Our post— urgent. For as the geneticrevolution in reproductivemedicine unfolds. what
human successors will rewrite the vertebrategenome,redesignthe globalecosys- might oncehavebeenthe stuff of millennialist fantasyis setto becomea scientif-
tem, and abolishsufferingthroughoutthe living world”. The text is composedof ically feasibleresearchprogram Its adoption or rejectionwill become.ultimate—
the Introduction, four chaptersand Conclusions.As the whole text is always ly, a social policy issue.Passivelyor actively, we will have to choosejust how
availableonline, we republishherethe Introduction asa ■rstand basicacquain- much unpleasantness we wish to createor conserve- if any —in erasto come.
tancewith Pearce.
Original text: Pearce, D. (1995). “The Hedonistic Imperative”. In: HED-
0.2 Saving Vehicles With Bad Drivers.
WEB, https://www.hedweb.comlhedethiclhedonisthtm [accessed 15 Oct. 2020].
The following excerptcomprisesthe introductory chapterof Pearce’s
text. Blind selectivepressureshaveactedon living organismsover hundredsof mi]-
lions of years.Darwinian evolution haspower■illyfavouredthe growth of ever
4.2. Text [excerpt] more diverse,excruciating,but also more adaptive varietiesof psychophysical
pain. Its sheernastinesseffectivelyspursand punishesthe living vehiclesof ge-
0. Introduction. netic replicators.Sadness,anxiety and discontent are frequentlygood for our
genes;they’rejust psychologicallybad for us. In absoluteterms, globalsuffering
“Happinessis an illusion; onlysufferingis real” is probably still increasingas the population explosioncontinues.Human inge-
(Voltaire) nuity hasstruggled,often vainly. to rationaliseand somehowderivevaluefrom
the most frightful anguish.But over the aeons.the very anguishwhich intermit-
tently corrodesthe well-beingof the individual organismhasdifferentially pro—
0.1 The Naturalisation of Heaven.
moted the inclusive ■tnessof its DNA. Henceit has tended to get inexorably
This manifestocombinesfar—fetched utopian advocacywith cold-headedscien— worse.
Of coursesuchdoom-and-gloomisn't the whole picture. The world‘shor-
ti■c prediction. The Hedonistic Imperative outlines how nanotechnologyand
geneticengineeringwill eliminate aversiveexperiencefrom the living world. rors can be contrastedwith life’srewardingexperiences.Peoplesometimeshave
fun. long—lastingdepressionis rarely adaptive.Yet what Michael Eysenclcde-
Over the next thousandyearsor so, the biologicalsubstratesof sufferingwill be
scribesas the “hedonictreadmill” ensuresthat very few of us can be very happy
eradicatedcompletely.“Physical"and “mental" pain alike are destinedto disap-
for very long. An interplay of cruelly effectivenegativefeedbackmechanismsis
pear into evolutionaryhistory. The biochemistryof everydaydiscontentswill be at work in the centralnervoussystem.Feedback-inhibitionensuresthat a major-
geneticallyphasedout too. Malaisewill be replacedby the biochemistryof bliss.
ity of peoplewould beperiodicallybored.depressedor angst-riddenin a recreat—
Matter and energy will be sculpted into life-loving super-beingsanimatedby
edGardenof Eden.
gradientsof well-being.The statesof mind of our descendantsare likely to be
A small minority of humansdo in fact experiencestatesof inde■nitelypro-
incomprehensiblydiverseby comparisonwith today. Yet all will shareat least
longedeuphoria.Thesestatesof involuntary well-beingare usuallypathologised
onecommon feature:a sublimeand all-pervasivehappiness.
60 David Puree Hedonistie Imperative [1995) b1

as “manic”. Unlike unipolar depression,sustainedunipolar euphoric mania is lions of genetically“normal" people is often very grim indeed.No amount of
very rare. Other folk who just have high “hedonic set-points",but who aren't piecemealpolitical and economic reform, nor even radical social engineering,
manic or bipolar, are sometimesdescribedas “hyperthymic” instead.This isn’t a canovercomethis biologicalreality.Today’sbillion-and—one routesto supposed-
common mindset either. “Bipolar disorder”, on the other hand, is experienced in ly lastinghappinessare pursuedin the guiseof innumerableintentional objects.
the courseof a lifetime by perhapsone in a hundredpeopleor more. Popularly [lntentionality in philosophy-speakis the ‘aboutness’or ‘object-directedness’ of
known as manic—depression, bipolar disorderhasseveralsub—types. Mood char- thought]. We convinceourselvesthat all manner of things would potentially
acteristicallyalternatesbetweeneuphoriaand abjectdespair.Cyclesmay vary in makeus happy.All theseperipheralroutesto personalful■lmentare not merely
length.It is a complexgeneticcondition which runs in families.Typically,bipo- vastly circuitous and inef■cient.In the main, they just don’t, and can't,durably
larity is markedby a geneticvariation in the serotonintransporteras compared work At best,they can serveas palliativesof the human predicament.If the
to “euthymic” normals. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in sleep, socia- mindlbrain'semotionalthemostat, as it were,is not geneticallyand/or pharma-
bility, feeding,activity, impulse-control,mood, and a lot elsebesides.The sero- cologically reset,then even the greatesttriumphs and successes turn to ashes.
tonin transporter mops up “excess”serotonin releasedby nerve cells into the Lottery winners,cup-■nalhat—trickscorersand blissfulnewly—weds are left time
synapses. Very crudely,manic statesare associatedwith enhanceddopamineand and again to discoverthis fate anew.Eventhoseof us who tend to lead a rela-
norepinephrinefunction; in mania,serotoninfunction is dysregulatedor low. tively happy day-to-dayexistencewill, in the courseof a lifetime, undergospells
Sadly,among today’s“bipolars” manic exuberancecan spin out of control. of wretchedunhappinessand disappointment.If we opt to havechildren, our
Euphoria may be accompaniedby hyperactivity,sleeplessness, Chaoticallyracing corrupt codeensuresthey will periodicallysuffera similar fate.
ideas,pressureof speechand grandiosethought. Hyper-sexuality,■nancialex— It would be easybut unwarrantedsimply to extrapolatepast and present
cessesand religiousdelusionsare common.80 is rampant egomania.Sometimes trends into the indefinite future. Usually,we assumewithout questionthat our
dysphoriamay occur. In dysphoricmania the manic “high” is actuallyunpleas- descendants- howeverdifferent from us in other respects—will be biologically
ant. The excitedsubjectmay be angry,agitated,panicky,paranoid.and destruc- prone to suffer negativestatesof consciousness. We supposethat future genera-
tive. When in the grip of classiceuphoric mania, however,it's hard to recognise tions will sometimesfeel distress,both subtleand crude,just aswe havealways
that anyonemight think anything is wrong. This is becauseeverythingfeelsut- done ourselves.Yet this assumptionmay be naive.The neurochemicalbasisof
terly right. To supposeotherwiseis like going to Heavenand then beinginvited feelingand emotion is rapidly being unravelled.The human genomeis going to
to believetherehasbeena mistake.It’s not credible. get comprehensivelydecodedand rewritten. In agesto come, it will become
Today,euphoric(hypo-)mania is liable to be clinically subduedwith drugs. purely an issue of (post-)human decisionwhether unpleasantmodesof con-
[“Hypomania” denotessimply a milder mania.] Toxic "medication” can depress sciousnessare generatedin any form or texture whatsoever.Aversiveexperience
elevatedmood to duller but “normal” levels.Such■atterand supposedlyhealthi- is a sinister anachronismin the age of post-genornicmedicine.We will soon
er levelsof emotion enableotherwiseeuphoric peopleto function within con- haveto decideif we shouldin■ict sufferingon ourselvesor on others.A terrible
temporary society. Compliance with a medically-dictatedtreatment—regimen but once unavoidablefact of organic life then becomesinsteada matter for ac—
(lithium, sodiumvalproate,carbamazepine,etc.) will be enhancedif the victim tive moral choicewhen one decidesupon the genetic make—up of one’s■iture
can be persuaded that euphoric well-being is pathological. (S)he can then look kids.And that choicecan bedeclined.
for warningsignsand symptoms.By the norms of our genetically-enrichedpos—
terity, however,it is the rest of us who are chronicallyunwell —if not more so.
0.3 Humans Are Not Rats.
Contemporarystandardsof mental health are just pathologicallylow. Our su—
per-welldescendants, by contrast,will enjoy a glorious spectrumof new options
One possibility, though not an option to be canvassedhere. is that in freeing
for mentalsuper—health. They may opt to combineemotionalstability,resilience
ourselvesfrom the nightmarishlegacyof our evolutionarypast we might choose
and “serotonergic” serenity, for instance,with the goal-orientedenergy,opti-
to enjoy a lifetime of raw, all—consuming orgasmicbliss.This bliss needn’tbe
mism and initiative of a raw “dopaminergic”high. Post—humans will discover
directedat any well—de■ned intentional objects We - or more likely our robot—
that euphoricpeakexperiencescan be channelled,controlledand geneticallydi-
serviceddescendants- wouldn’t be ecstaticabout anything in particular. Our
versi■ed,not just medicallysuppressed.
nature would be constitutionally ecstatic.Geneticallypre-programmedeuphoria
For there is a cruel irony here.Clinically prescribedmood-darkenerswould
be laughablyredundantfor the great bulk of humanity. At present,life for bil-
62 David Purc- HedonisticImperatlve[199“ 63

would be as natural and inevitable as breathing.We would simply be happy exquisitelyerotic, mysticalepiphaniesmore awe—inspiring, and love more pro-
aboutbeinghappy. foundly intensethan anything wecannow properlycomprehend.
The de■ningimagehere,perhaps,is the notional human counterpartof the I shall ■rstschematicallysetout how a naturalistic,secularparadiseof ef-
experimenter’slever~pressing rat. Microelectrodescan be implanteddirectly into fectivelyeverlastinghappinessis biotechnicallyfeasible.Second,I will arguewhy
the mind/brain’spleasurecentres.Theselie in the mesolimhicdopaminesystem, its realisation is instrumentally rational and ethically mandatory.Third, I will
the coreof the brain'srewardcircuitry. It extendsfrom theventral tegmentumto o■'era sketchof whenand why sucha scenariois likely to cometo passin some
the nucleusaccumbens.with projectionsto the limbic systemand orbitofrontal guiseor other. And, ■nally,I shall try to anticipatesomeof the most common if
cortex. Notoriously.the wired rat will indulge in frenziedboutsof intra-cranial not alwayscogentobjectionsthat the prospectof psychochemicalnirvanais like—
self-stimulationfor days on end. The experienceis so wonderful that it takes ly to arouse,and attemptto defusethem.
precedenceover food and sleep.Intra-cranial self-stimulationis preferredeven
to sex. The rat doesn’tneed to undergo a contrasting “low” to appreciatethe
“high". The little bundleof joy is apparentlyincapableof becomingboredwith,
or physiologicallytolerant to, the rodentequivalentof Heaven.
Suchanimalisticimagesare unedifying to all but the most unabashedhe-
donist. Yet more subtly engineeredhuman counterpartsof the euphoric rat are
perfectlyfeasible.Centurieshence,any pleasure—maidmising ecstaticswill be us-
ing their personalfreedom to exercisewhat is, in an ethical utilitarian sense,a
legitimatelifestylechoice.
The “wirehead” option, however,will be only one item taken from a very
large menu. Unfortunately,it is alsothe most easilyvisualised.Sothe spectreof
perpetual intra—cranialself-stimulation can easily be taken, wrongly, to sym-
bolisethe whole approachthat The HedonisticImperative represents.The des-
perateethical urgencythat underliesthe abolitionist project may thus too easily
bedismissed.For humans,asweare solemnlyreminded,are not rats.

DJ. Life In Dopaminergic Overdrive.

An important point to stressin the discussionto follow is that many dopamine-

driven states of euphoria can actually enhancemotivated, goal-directedbe-
haviour in general.Enhanceddopaminefunction makesone‘smotivation to act
stronger,not weaker.Hyper-dopaminergicstatestend also to increasethe range
of activitiesan organism■ndsworth pursumg.Outsidethe pleasure-laboratory,
such statesof necessityfocus on countlessdifferent intentional objects.Sohu-
manity’sfuture as envisagedin this manifesto is not, or certainly not just, an
eternity spent enrapturedon elixirs of super-somaor tanked up on high-octane
pleasure-machines. Nor is it plausiblethat posterity will enjoy only the dullish,
opiated sensibilityof the heroin addict. Instead,an extraordinarily fertile range
of purposefuland productiveactivitieswill most likely be pursued.Betterstill,
our descendants, and in principle perhapsevenour elderly selves.will havethe
chanceto enjoy modesof experiencewe primitives cruellylack. For on offer are
sights more majesticallybeautiful, music more deeply soul-stirring, sex more