" Genetically Engineering Almost Anything") Mastery of our genetic source code, the development of in vitro meat, and the CRISPR revolution in biotechnology have left the merely technical arguments against phasing out the biology of suffering less convincing than they seemed two decades ago. Technical feasibility differs from sociological plausibility. Is 'The Hedonistic Imperative' plausible? Is it truly imperative for sentient life to seek self-gratification?.Alas, the history of philosophy twinned with the principle of mediocrity suggests I burble as much nonsense as everyone else. Epistemologically, I incline to a radical scepticism that would be sterile to articulate. Metaphysically, I explore a zero ontology: the total information content of reality is zero on pain of a miraculous creation of information ex nihilo. When awake, we are quantum minds running subjectively classical world-simulations. Without the superposition principle of QM, our minds wouldn't be able to simulate fitness-relevant patterns in the local environment. Phenomenal binding is what consciousness is evolutionarily “ for”. What makes biological minds distinctive, in my view, isn’t subjective experience per se, but rather non-psychotic binding. The solutions to the equations of QFT or its generalisation yield the values of qualia. Experience discloses the intrinsic nature of the physical: the “fire” in the equations. Tentatively, I'm a wavefunction monist who believes we are patterns of qualia in a high-dimensional complex Hilbert space. Formally, the world is completely described by the equation(s) of physics, presumably a relativistic analogue of the universal Schrödinger equation. My working assumption is non-materialist physicalism. But intelligent moral agents will need to understand the multiverse if we are to grasp the nature and scope of our wider cosmological responsibilities. The nature of ultimate reality baffles me. After we have reprogrammed the biosphere to wipe out experience below “hedonic zero”, we should build a “ triple S” civilisation based on gradients of superhuman bliss. Our overriding ethical obligation is to minimise suffering. Pain and pleasure disclose the world’s inbuilt metric of (dis)value. What are your philosophical positions in one paragraph?Īll that matters is the pleasure-pain axis.Quora Answers by David Pearce (2015 - 2023) : transhumanism with a human face
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