<P> The Abolitionist Society is a transhumanist group calling for the abolition of suffering in all sentient life through the use of advanced biotechnology . Their core philosophy is negative utilitarianism . David Pearce is a theorist of this perspective and he believes and promotes the idea that there exists a strong ethical imperative for humans to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life . His book - length internet manifesto The Hedonistic Imperative outlines how technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, pharmacology, and neurosurgery could potentially converge to eliminate all forms of unpleasant experience among human and non-human animals, replacing suffering with gradients of well - being, a project he refers to as "paradise engineering". A transhumanist and a vegan, Pearce believes that we (or our future posthuman descendants) have a responsibility not only to avoid cruelty to animals within human society but also to alleviate the suffering of animals in the wild . </P> <P> In a talk David Pearce gave at the Future of Humanity Institute and at the Charity International' Happiness Conference' he said "Sadly, what won't abolish suffering, or at least not on its own, is socio - economic reform, or exponential economic growth, or technological progress in the usual sense, or any of the traditional panaceas for solving the world's ills . Improving the external environment is admirable and important; but such improvement can't recalibrate our hedonic treadmill above a genetically constrained ceiling . Twin studies confirm there is a (partially) heritable set - point of well - being - or ill - being - around which we all tend to fluctuate over the course of a lifetime . This set - point varies between individuals . (It's possible to lower an individual's hedonic set - point by inflicting prolonged uncontrolled stress; but even this re-set is not as easy as it sounds: suicide - rates typically go down in wartime; and six months after a quadriplegia - inducing accident, studies suggest that we are typically neither more nor less unhappy than we were before the catastrophic event .) Unfortunately, attempts to build an ideal society can't overcome this biological ceiling, whether utopias of the left or right, free - market or socialist, religious or secular, futuristic high - tech or simply cultivating one's garden . Even if everything that traditional futurists have asked for is delivered - eternal youth, unlimited material wealth, morphological freedom, superintelligence, immersive VR, molecular nanotechnology, etc - there is no evidence that our subjective quality of life would on average significantly surpass the quality of life of our hunter - gatherer ancestors - or a New Guinea tribesman today - in the absence of reward pathway enrichment . This claim is difficult to prove in the absence of sophisticated neuroscanning; but objective indices of psychological distress e.g. suicide rates, bear it out . Unenhanced humans will still be prey to the spectrum of Darwinian emotions, ranging from terrible suffering to petty disappointments and frustrations - sadness, anxiety, jealousy, existential angst . Their biology is part of "what it means to be human". Subjectively unpleasant states of consciousness exist because they were genetically adaptive . Each of our core emotions had a distinct signalling role in our evolutionary past: they tended to promote behaviours that enhanced the inclusive fitness of our genes in the ancestral environment ." </P> <P> Russian physicist and philosopher Victor Argonov argues that hedonism is not only a philosophical but also a verifiable scientific hypothesis . In 2014 he suggested "postulates of pleasure principle" confirmation of which would lead to a new scientific discipline, hedodynamics . Hedodynamics would be able to forecast the distant future development of human civilization and even the probable structure and psychology of other rational beings within the universe . In order to build such a theory, science must discover the neural correlate of pleasure - neurophysiological parameter unambiguously corresponding to the feeling of pleasure (hedonic tone). </P> <P> According to Argonov, posthumans will be able to reprogram their motivations in an arbitrary manner (to get pleasure from any programmed activity). And if pleasure principle postulates are true, then general direction of civilization development is obvious: maximization of integral happiness in posthuman life (product of life span and average happiness). Posthumans will avoid constant pleasure stimulation, because it is incompatible with rational behavior required to prolong life . However, in average, they can become much happier than modern humans . </P>

Who believed that there is a scientific basis for social organization and action
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