BLTC Research

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BLTC (Better Living Through Chemistry) Research Logo

1 BLTC Research
2 Mission Statement
3 Research Programs
4 BLTC Network
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
- 7.1 Information from BLTC itself
- 7.2 Information from other sources

[edit] BLTC Research

BLTC (Better Living Through Chemistry) is a non-profit research organization which was founded in 1995. It seeks to elucidate the underlying physiological mechanisms of physical and mental suffering, with the intention of eradicating any form of suffering. The research goals of BLTC include determining the final common neurological pathway of both pleasure and pain in the brain. Once this process is better understood, it will be possible to more effectively design medicines and other treatments for various mental illnesses, as well as cure the painful symptoms of many diseases.[1]

BLTC maintains philosophical underpinnings on the writings of negative utilitarian philosophers. Negative utilitarianists set the moral goal of life as the elimination of suffering, as opposed to utilitarianism, which promotes the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people, sometimes at the expense of others. Rather than the promotion of the greatest happiness for the greatest number, negative utilitarianism promotes the least suffering for the most amount of people. Negative utilitarianists believe that any kind of suffering in the world is worse than a large number of people that are happy at the expense of others who suffer. BLTC plans to use modern biology to eliminate any forms of suffering.[2]

Based in Brighton, UK, BLTC researches and publishes online texts in support of the biochemical and biotechnological methods by which its proponents believe sentient suffering could be abolished in future generations.[3] The BLTC network also contains information regarding many psychopharmacological methods that have the potential to make contemporary life as painless as possible for those currently living. Along with providing information and ideas on the new philosophies of Abolitionism, |Paradise engineering, and Neo-Hedonism, the work of BLTC acts as a focal point for supporters of other well-established philosophies including, but not limited to, Utopianism, Posthumanism and Transhumanism. BLTC provides arguments supporting many disparate threads of interest connecting these individual schools of thought.

[edit] Mission Statement

"BLTC RESEARCH was founded in 1995 to promote Paradise-Engineering. We are dedicated to an ambitious global technology project. BLTC seek to abolish the biological substrates of suffering. Not just in humans, but in all sentient life ... The ethical importance of the decisions we take can scarcely be exaggerated. For soon we'll be forced to choose how much suffering in the living world we want to conserve and create. Or whether instead we wish to abolish pain completely ... Life on earth can be animated by gradients of ecstatic well-being beyond the bounds of normal human experience. In the end, the greatest obstacles to superhealth and a cruelty-free world may prove ideological, not technical." [4]

[edit] Research Programs

The areas of research which BLTC supports are abolitionism, paradise engineering, and Neo-Hedonism. Abolitionism, supported by the Abolitionist Society, is concerned with the ethical and moral arguments inherent in removing suffering from all sentient life. Paradise Engineering proposes that the future eradication of all sentient suffering, pain and malaise could be best achieved through the utilisation of modern methods of biotechnology such as nanotechnology and genetic engineering. Neo-Hedonism focuses on the ways in which contemporary day-to-day suffering can be most successfully dealt with through the use of individually tailored psychopharmacology.

[edit] BLTC Network

BLTC consists of a large network of websites, many of which provide information regarding central areas of contemporary Abolitionist, Neo-Hedonist and paradise engineering research, including the combined manifesto supporting these three research programs-- The Hedonistic Imperative written by BLTC founder David Pearce-- as well as critiques of the most popular arguments used against such utopian perspectives, namely that of the Brave New World polemic. The BLTC network also contains many Neo-Hedonist texts regarding how readers can attempt to help themselves to feel mentally and physically ‘better than well’ ^[1] through developing and maintaining the correct balance of a healthy diet and an individually tailored psychopharmacological regimen. Further still, the BLTC network maintains a knowledge database concerned with many of the most well-researched modern compounds and practices that can be utilised for tackling pain and suffering in daily life.