The Christian Transhumanist Podcast

Ep 41: David Pearce & Engineering Paradise

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David Pearce lays out a plan for building heaven on earth, shows us why vegans need more science fiction, and explains why computers may never become conscious.

Bio:

David Pearce is a philosopher, a founder of the World Transhumanist Association (now called Humanity+), and the author of The Hedonistic Imperative.

Topics:
  • The Naturalization of Heaven
    • The Lion and the Lamb as an engineering project
    • The Ever-Happy Mice
    • The Hedonistic Imperative & The Abolitionist Project
    • How do we make heaven on earth? A 3-step plan:
      1. Stop systematically harming living beings. Shut down factory farms & slaughter houses. Introduce in vitro meats.
      2. Designer babies & free genetic screening.
      3. Raise our "hedonic set-point" — How much pleasure and pain we experience on average.
      4. Wireheading vs Paradise Engineering?
        • Genetic Engineering, Smart Drugs, and why natural selection won't let us become wire-headers
        • Wireheading, Faith Healing & the Placebo Effect — Micah's comprehensive theory of placebo, faith healing, and the genetics of spiritual authority
        • Will genetic engineering increase biodiversity?
        • Do we need pain in order to experience pleasure?
        • Should vegans be more ambitious?
          • What is the role of humanity in governing life?
          • The significance of Science Fiction & Religious Visions
          • Will computers become conscious?
            • The Binding Problem of Consciousness
            • Is there one consciousness or many?
            • What does consciousness do?
            • Consciousness as Quantum Coherence


              • Links:
              • BBC on David Pearce & the Pursuit of Happiness
              • The Hedonistic Imperative
              • The Abolitionist Project


                • Pull-Quotes:

                "Computers may never become conscious." <-- Click to tweet

                "The pain-pleasure axis exposes the world's metric of value." — @webmasterdave

                "Every child born today is a unique genetic experiment." — @webmasterdave

                "Ending suffering for good entails tackling its genetic-biological roots, i.e. a programming solution." — @webmasterdave

                "All that matters is the pleasure-pain axis." — @webmasterdave

                ...more
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                The Christian Transhumanist PodcastBy Micah Redding
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