S2E2: David Pearce - Engineering a World Without Suffering: Is it Possible?

What if suffering isn't an unavoidable feature of conscious life, but a solvable engineering problem? Philosopher David Pearce has spent three decades arguing that we could — and morally should — use biotechnology to abolish suffering entirely, not just in humans but across all sentient life.We sit down with David Pearce, co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association (now Humanity+) alongside Nick Bostrom, and author of the 1995 manifesto The Hedonistic Imperative. His recent work with the Far Out Initiative draws inspiration from people like Jo Cameron, who because of a rare genetic mutation lives essentially without physical or psychological suffering — raising the question of whether that could eventually be given to everyone.The conversation covers what an "information-sensitive gradient of bliss" is and whether lower bliss states would just become the new suffering, why so many people find this project instinctively repellent, how you would manage ecosystems if predators no longer hunted, and the timeline for these interventions. We also venture into David's more heterodox views on physics and conciousness, e.g., why he thinks the binding problem is the thing most theories of consciousness quietly ignore.. From the practical question of what we should be doing right now, to the prediction that future generations may look back on Darwinian life the way we look back on the Dark Ages, this episode makes the case for one of the most radical, yet perhaps one of the most reasonable, ideas in contemporary philosophy.David's website: https://www.hedweb.com/Far Out Initiative: https://www.faroutinitiative.com/This podcast can also be found here: https://linktr.ee/new_horizons_thepod...