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Five Top Reasons Transhumanism Can Eliminate Suffering
Posted to TNet: Thu, October 18, 2012 | By: David Pearce Reality is big. So our optimism must be confined to sentient beings in our forward light-cone. But I tentatively predict that the last experience below “hedonic zero” will be a precisely dateable event several hundred years hence. Here are five grounds for cautious optimism: 1. We Shall Soon Be Able To Choose Our Own Level Of Pain-Sensitivity It’s hard to convey in words the frightfulness of unrelieved physical pain. Millions of people with chronic pain syndromes suffer severe physical pain each day. However, a revolution in reproductive medicine is imminent. We’ll shortly be able to choose the genetically-shaped pain…
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Do Robots Deserve the Right to Unionize?
Posted to TNet: Mon, June 10, 2013 | By: B. J. Murphy In 1979, sociologist Prof. Albert J. Szymanski once said: “The energy for change comes from the emotions. It comes from feelings of frustration that arise when people’s needs are not met. If people were computers that could be programmed to do anything their masters wanted, there would be no pressure for change, even if some computers were treated much worse than others… But people have physical and emotional needs that cannot be met in a class society which gives power and wealth to some at the expense of others.” (Szymanski, Sociology, p. 321) And while I certainly agree in the context…
