The Future of Happiness or What is good for beings that can change themselves?

1. The Future of HappinessorWhat is good for beings that can change themselves? Dr. Dan Weijers Victoria University of Wellington 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy

2. A possible future 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy United world government Community, identity, stability Peace Less negative emotions, more positive emotions People largely get what they want Satisfying work for everyone

3. But… 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • Technology used for extensive developmental and social engineering • People are conditioned to like certain things • Caste system • Curtailment of some rights: • Procreative • Emotional—No right to be unhappy! • Life seems bland, meaningless

4. Huxley’s Brave New World 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy In 1932, Huxley predicted this would be our future (2540) if we didn’t actively change course

5. A turning point in human history 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • We used to use technology to change the environment • Now we use technology to change ourselves • Drugs (David Pearce) • Wearable tech. (real-time date-rater & mood control?) • Prosthetics • Cybernetic implants • Genetic screening • Genetic engineering

6. The point (of the talk) 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • Now that we can change ourselves, we should re-examine our societal and policy goals • My points on how we should do this: • We should address the question of wellbeing before questions of morality and fair distribution • We should consider the relative value of being different kinds of beings • The core question for future-oriented public policy regarding wellbeing should be: what is good for beings that can change themselves?

7. Disclaimers 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • Relieving suffering over increasing happiness • Distributive concerns over maximising averages or maximums • Education and democratic discussion over technocratic totalitarianism • Basically, we (society & policy makers) just need to pay more attention than we currently do to the issue of what is good for beings that can change themselves

8. Wellbeing then morality 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • We should address the question of wellbeing before questions of morality and fair distribution • Why? • Welfarism: if morality has no bearing whatsoever on what makes our lives go better for us, then why should we care about morality? • If welfarism is true, then what is moral depends at least partly on what wellbeing is. • Start with ideal and then work on the pragmatics and next best options

9. Values of kinds of being 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • We should consider the relative value of being different kinds of beings… • Why? • Humans are evolving and we increasingly have the ability to speed up and steer these changes in individuals and populations • We are aware of 1, so not actively doing anything is still making a value-based choice • If we are making a values-based choice, we should make an informed one (because it’s important)

10. The best kind of being 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • We must consider the relative value of being different kinds of beings… • … and ask: ‘what is/are the best kind/s of being/s to be?’ • Best for the individual beings themselves (wellbeing) • And, best for all of the relevant beings (morality) • Crusaders: more sensitive to perceived injustice • Dolor-dampeners: all negative emotions felt less strongly • Imagine if you (or everyone) just happened to be that way

11. What is good for beingsthat can change themselves? 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • The core question for future-oriented public policy regarding wellbeing should be: what is good for beings that can change themselves? • Why? • Public policy should aim to make things better for the public, including the future public • And, the future public will be able to change themselves • Ignoring the ability to change ourselves may limit our potential to makes things better for the future public • And, may lead to underground vigilante-led change!

12. Implications for flourishing accounts 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • What is good for beings that can change themselves? • The answer to this question is likely to be different to the answer to: ‘according to a flourishing account, what is good for humans?’ • Flourishing accounts generally challenged, too: • ‘Exercising and fulfilling natural capacities’ seems to imply that it is good for us to wisely change ourselves, but lacks any real content to advise what direction we should change in

13. Implications for objective list accounts 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • What is good for beings that can change themselves? • Items on the list might become obsolete as we develop • Spiritual wellbeing for highly intelligent beings that perfectly understand how the universe works and where it came from • A preponderance of positive emotions for beings that have developed a Stoic disassociation from their emotions • Items may be missing from the list • Degree of integration (e.g. with ‘the cloud’?) • E.g. values that we cannot currently comprehend!

14. Implications for measures of wellbeing 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • What is good for beings that can change themselves? • Subjective wellbeing (e.g.) how well I truly believe my life is going compared to what is possible • Judgments could be hugely biased by lack of knowledge of what is possible • Quality of life indicators (e.g.) air quality • Changes to self might include auto cleansing of pollutants

15. Implications for national-level policy makers 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • What is good for beings that can change themselves? • Encourage debate on this key question (as well as the ethics of various new enhancement technologies) • Wellbeing as part of education • More closely monitor public values in regards to wellbeing • Create an overarching flexible framework for evaluating new technologies in light of an enriched understanding of the wellbeing of beings that can change themselves

16. Summary 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy • The core question for future-oriented public policy regarding wellbeing should be: What is good for beings that can change themselves? • Old theories and measures of wellbeing assume that human nature is fixed • But human nature is not fixed • So good theories and measures of wellbeing should be able to accommodate a moving target

17. Consumerism 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy BNW: wasteful consumption encouraged to prevent unemployment Now: malls, infomercials, “naked shopping”, “haul culture” Future: instant personalized naked shopping, ultra personalized unavoidable advertising

18. Meaningless recreation 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy BNW: obstacle golf, the feelies Now: “massively addicting” online rpgs Future: “even more massively addicting” immersive virtual reality online rpgs with artificially intelligent NPCs

19. Breeding 2nd International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy BNW: creatures bred to like doing menial tasks for simple pleasurable rewards Now: domestic animals, GE crops, animal trials of: GE, cloning and artificial organic material Future: BNW results seem plausible