047: David Pearce on “What is the Future of Suffering?”

In this episode, philosopher, author and cofounder of H+ David Pearce joins us to discuss his concept of the hedonistic imperative, which is the argument that we have a moral obligation to end the suffering of not just all humanity but all sentient life. We discuss his terms "Hedonic Set Point" and "Hedonic Treadmill" and how these phenomena combine to keep most people at about the same amount of happiness, even if they win the lottery or lose the use of their legs. We discuss the feasibility of using prenatal screening to raise our children's hedonic set points, and the farther-off possibility of using in-vivo genetic modification or future drug therapies to raise our own. It's a fun and wide-ranging conversation that we think you're going to really like. Check it out!

Om Podcasten

Enter a simulated universe where software beings engage in classic human struggles for belonging, status, and attention, and old certainties like death and gravity are just settings to be negotiated. You can be the god of your own private world, but if find yourself feeling lonely, you might be tempted to give away some of your precious control. This podcast will take you behind the scenes with comic book authors and veteran podcasters Jon Perry (@perryjon) and Ted Kupper (@tedkupper) as they write and develop a science fiction graphic novel called Constellation, set in a metaverse unlike any you’ve seen before: neither a utopia nor a dystopia, neither real nor virtual, it is a simulation where everyone knows they are being simulated and no one much cares, where there’s no hope of leaving and no reason to, just an endless supply of human-designed worlds to create and explore.