FA+
Shop
Hedonism
a year ago
The human condition is a treadmill, a treadmill of hedonism. To indulge in pleasure is to only be offered a momentary reprieve from suffering. Despite improvements in the external conditions: socio-economic reform, economic growth, and technological progress, the nature of suffering will always be internal, and subjective. It is increasingly clear that the subjective experience is what requires remedy most of all.
And it has been revealed through extensive study, with regards to monozygotic and dizogytic twins, that there is a heritable reference point of well-being--a baseline, if you will--of subjective well-being, around which we oscillate throughout our lives. Our lowest of lows and highest of highs are still relative to this baseline state of contentment or discontent, or ๐ฅ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ. And we know that there is a high variance in the ๐ฅ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ between individuals. It is even suggested that this baseline can be permanently decreased by periods of extended suffering.
It is also evident that there are individuals that are ๐ฅ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฉ๐บ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค. In our old parlance, we would call them anhedonic. They receive less pleasure from most sources and are less reactive to stimuli. In the most extreme degrees, this even caused dysfunction in their participation in the wider society; we called it 'depressed'. This phenomenon, however, is now an artifact of history thanks to advances in germline genetic engineering.
But what about an increase?
Studies have also proven that there are individuals whom we could deem ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค. We would consider them optimistic by temperament. Hyperthymics do not suffer from any dysfunction due to their higher baseline ๐ฅ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ, they are simply exceedingly content, or happy. This can even be regardless of what should be objective suffering; loss, dismemberment, and so forth. Although, this is still subject to variation. Hyperthymics still respond adaptively and appropriately to external stimuli, and are in fact particularly energetic and creative. Even when experiencing a 'high', they are still able to function productively.
Thus, here is the thrust of my proposal. What if as an entire society, we were to become hyperthymic by design? If we were to alter ourselves on the genetic and psychological level, and not merely the societal? We could proliferate hyperthymia throughout the entire population, and with concentrated efforts, even reach peaks beyond that, ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ๐ฉ-๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐๐. We could abolish the lowest lows, and the pains of yesteryear will be forgotten.
The worst our people will know would only be boredom.
I even have it on good authority that this would unlock the latent psycho-potential of our society...
- AN EXCERPT BY The Pierced One
- Date Unknown
Continued here
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11162688
And it has been revealed through extensive study, with regards to monozygotic and dizogytic twins, that there is a heritable reference point of well-being--a baseline, if you will--of subjective well-being, around which we oscillate throughout our lives. Our lowest of lows and highest of highs are still relative to this baseline state of contentment or discontent, or ๐ฅ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ. And we know that there is a high variance in the ๐ฅ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ between individuals. It is even suggested that this baseline can be permanently decreased by periods of extended suffering.
It is also evident that there are individuals that are ๐ฅ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฉ๐บ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค. In our old parlance, we would call them anhedonic. They receive less pleasure from most sources and are less reactive to stimuli. In the most extreme degrees, this even caused dysfunction in their participation in the wider society; we called it 'depressed'. This phenomenon, however, is now an artifact of history thanks to advances in germline genetic engineering.
But what about an increase?
Studies have also proven that there are individuals whom we could deem ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค. We would consider them optimistic by temperament. Hyperthymics do not suffer from any dysfunction due to their higher baseline ๐ฅ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ, they are simply exceedingly content, or happy. This can even be regardless of what should be objective suffering; loss, dismemberment, and so forth. Although, this is still subject to variation. Hyperthymics still respond adaptively and appropriately to external stimuli, and are in fact particularly energetic and creative. Even when experiencing a 'high', they are still able to function productively.
Thus, here is the thrust of my proposal. What if as an entire society, we were to become hyperthymic by design? If we were to alter ourselves on the genetic and psychological level, and not merely the societal? We could proliferate hyperthymia throughout the entire population, and with concentrated efforts, even reach peaks beyond that, ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ๐ฉ-๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐๐. We could abolish the lowest lows, and the pains of yesteryear will be forgotten.
The worst our people will know would only be boredom.
I even have it on good authority that this would unlock the latent psycho-potential of our society...
- AN EXCERPT BY The Pierced One
- Date Unknown
Continued here
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11162688
do you plan to continue from or expand this piece of worldbuilding?
I'm trying to write up some small companion pieces that flesh out my scifi game's lore/context
One of my goals is to flesh out the different strains of thought among the factions and have them kind of 'bounce off' of each other
I have something in mind for how this plan interacts with an idea to spread life across the stars as a contingency against extinction, which I'll probs write next :thinking: