Zack argues that humans will soon transcend their limitations through the invention and application of "emoticeuticals."
"Pain and negative feelings often are more intense and longer lasting than they need to be, especially for people living in today’s modern world."
It is indisputable that prozac, alcohol, marijuana, and many other drugs affect brain chemistry. The human brain is a chemical machine. But the system is much more complicated than "happy-on" and "happy-off."
In addition to the absense of pain signals, human happiness depends on things like a sense of meaning, purpose, and connectedness. There is no simple way to achieve these states. Individuals spend lifetimes to achieve these states imperfectly and occasionally. Philosophical and spiritual traditions wrestle with these issues.
Science has discovered drugs that work on various centers of the brain, but are very far from being able to understand, let alone manage the subtleties of human behavior. What drugs could make a family, or a neighborhood, or a participants in a business work well together? What drug would motivate a person to stop watching television and start gardening? These are complex learned behaviors requiring effort and cultural reinforcement.
I don't see why Zack is so enthusiastic about this technology. Happiness isn't trivially easy for conscious beings who perceive suffering and imperfection in the world, and there is a good argument that shouldn't be. The world isn't improved any if someone can have a fight with a friend or spouse and then take a happy pill to make it better. The world isn't improved if nations fight wars, and their citizens take happy pills to make the pain go away.
Posted by alevin at May 11, 2003 08:47 AM | TrackBackI couldn't agree more Adina. This modern obsession with removing all pain is the root of a lot of our problems. We create the impression that life without challenges or setbacks is somehow better. We remove ourselves from the pain of the real world through drugs, TV, material acquisition etc yet lose sight of the fact that it is invariably through the pain of misfortune and our response to our challenges that we make the greatest leaps in our understanding of oursleves and the universe.
Posted by: Euan on May 17, 2003 02:52 AMI'm not so sure I agree with this. I think that drugs sometimes provide very real and much needed help to situations. You say it takes some peoples entire life to achieve a certain state of happiness that can only be had through satisfaction of relationships, work, and achievement. I agree with this, drugs don't give the satisfaction and joy that real life can give, but I think that it can help when it is needed and provide a stepping stone to make things right. Anti-depressants such as paxil or mdma allow the user to become more in touch with themselves and can help them confront the root cause of their problems. You say it is bad to have a fight and use drugs to solve it. Well, if you use the drugs (like alcohol and marijuana) to ignore the problem and allow it to go away temporarily only to come back later even worse, than that is bad. But, for example, psychiatrists use anti-depressants to help the user confront the problem and help them to realize that they must deal with it. Some of these drugs help people get over their problems with each other and allow them to connect on a much deeper level which can renew a relationship after a fight. I think there are many uses for drugs in this world, but unfortunately people have a hard time using them responsibly and they can be a trap of abuse instead of use.
Posted by: Joel on February 1, 2004 11:55 AM