Brain stimulation to treat mental illness and enhance human learning, creativity, performance, altruism, and defenses against suffering

Riley-Day syndrome, brain stimulation and the genetic engineering of a world without pain

Riley-Day Syndrome, a genetic disorder in which there is impaired ability or inability to feel pain, hot and cold, is cited as an example of evidence that the commonplace notion that life cannot be painless is not necessarily valid. A hypothesis is presented to the effect that everything adaptive which is achievable with a mind capable of experiencing varying degrees of both pleasure and pain (the human condition as we know it) could be achieved with a mind capable of experiencing only varying degrees of pleasure. Two possible approaches whereby the human mind could be rendered painless are a schematically-outlined genetic approach, which would or will probably take thousands of years to implement, and a brain stimulation approach that could be effected by means of a noninvasive, contactless, transcranial, deep-neuroanatomic-site-focusable, electromagnetic and/or ultrasonic (and/or, conceivably, other kind of) brain pacemaker which could be developed within a few years. In order to expedite the relief of all kinds of suffering and the improvement of the human condition in general, it is advocated that prompt and concerted research effort be directed toward the development of such a brain pacemaker.