The Hedonistic Imperative

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I've previously thought about humans genetically engineering themselves to feel pure and continual happiness, but I'm not really sure how I stand on this. It would be great to feel that orgasmic bliss each and every day but I think that in such a mindset our productivity would slow down (and that's not necessarily a bad thing) We'd be soooo happy and fulfilled that we'd all be content with just sitting down and smiling at each other all the time. I doubt people would expend their energy working 12+ hours a day to get that vacation home or that new car beacuse they'll all be content with their present situation. Everyone will act like a peacful, enlightened buddist but nobody will be enlightened, because noone will have the urge to better their current situation to become enlightened.

I guess the best bet is to engineer people to be more peaceful and loving without letting them live thier lives as if they're on the peak of a coke high?

 

Wow that's really troubling and raises too many philosophical questions for me to even start naming. Great read though! +rep

 

The stagnation of bliss sounds like the ego out of control!​

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"I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eater, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eater without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars."​

~Homer - The Odyssey~​

To be perfectly honest I think genetic bliss is a nutty idea and further demonstrates what Frank Whitmore said when he stated:​

"The biggest difficulty with mankind today is that our knowledge has increased so much faster than our wisdom."

~Frank Whitmore~

We have access to tremendous amounts of information yet, somehow it escapes those that uncover such knowledge that science isn't the only discipline that should advance. A set of ethics/morality should develop alongside every major discovery. If you doubt this just take a look at what unchecked knowledge has done to us and this world. There's very little balance. Somehow we've allowed a small group of men decide what's good for the whole and we've sat quietly by and let them help us destroy the world. What really troubles me more than anything else is the arrogance of such a ridiculous proposition. We've shown step by step that we seldom handle the mysteries of the universe responsibly but in this instance we will? At one point or another we've misused all of God's gifts. Simply because we can do a thing doesn't mean that we should.

To build off of what 4ction said the human animal has built an entire world based on our interaction with the environment. What will we become when we're genetically transformed into beings that have no sense of struggle, but merely look on dull eyed and sated? What will become of our values and sense of self? The scientific method has unlocked and made available for the use of man terrible powers. These powers must be contained for the good of all life. I think scientific advancement is amazing and certainly noteworthy, but not at the expense of our collective identity, and not at the expense of the natural world. History has demonstrated time and time again that what took evolution untold ages to build, someone with a supposedly good idea annihilates in a matter of minutes.

Some oversimplify religion's role in the life of man but when I read things like this it makes its role all the more poignant. Religion isn't simply our response to the unknown, but it adds a counterbalance to what we do know. It holds man accountable for his actions in a way that science never can and never will. Unless humanity is willing to be perfectly candid with itself we aren't going to face the truth of our fears and overcome them through hard earned sweat, brotherhood, and a sense of adventure. We have to be willing to wait a bit longer for what's possible because what's possible is as boundless as the stars themselves. Human beings are spiritual as well as physical and the acknowledgement of such doesn't interfere with science any more than knowing we're a collective interferes with our individuality. There's room enough in the universe for God and Charles Darwin.

As long as we have two camps berating each other we'll never move forward as a people in a meaningful way. Religion has no caring for science as science has no caring for religion, but together...

Religion + Science = Boundless possibilities

"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

~Albert Einstein~

Peace.

 

isn't there something in the US constitution that its the role of the gov to ensure everyone is happy?

this is no cestation of suffering. eternal happyness regardless of one's surroundings sounds like a blissed out happy ignorant fool beaming a smile as he tears off the head of another baby unaware of the turmoil and terror he causes the whole.

the accumulative effects of following this one side of a dichotomy absolutely are clear to me, just the same as it would be if we were to take the other extreme as in voltaires quote at the start of the linked article, and embrace suffering in an absolute. neither is wise, and neither is balance and so neither is any kind of salvation for the family tree of the human species life.

so what is?

the answer is obvious and everpresent.


shshsh.



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