Abolitionism (bioethics) - Scientific Advancements

Scientific Advancements

The Abolitionist Society aims to achieve its goals through scientific research. Recent laboratory breakthroughs have bolstered the idea that happiness is physically based and can be influenced through scientific methods.

In 2006, Guillaume Lucas of McGill University and his colleagues published results indicating that depression may become treatable or preventable through gene manipulation. Mice born without a gene coding for the expression of a potassium channel found in depression-related neurons have resistance to depression (as tested by standard behavioral measures in the rodent model) comparable to that of naive mice treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

An important discovery that boosts the case for the potential to abolish suffering is the example of deep brain stimulation of the brain's pleasure centers. The direct electrical stimulation does not create tolerance proving that there is a potential to overcome the brain's anhedonic homeostatic mechanisms. Pacemaker-type neurostimulators have been shown to reliably increase observed happiness without causing detriments to functionality: these interventions have proven to actually increase various cognitive and social aspects of human functionality.

Neuroscientist R.J. Davidson has developed reliable means to objectively quantify subjective affective status using fMRI and EEG - demonstrating that happiness can be measured. Davidson's technological innovations also provide a more accurate means of assessing happiness than that provided by subjective questionnaires.