PARADISE-ENGINEERING FAQ
A C T I O N
"What can I do?"
Put up a web page setting out your own perspective.
"How can a web site help?"
The biggest obstacles to paradise-engineering are ideological, not technical. A web-based strategy to win hearts and minds can play a vital role in promoting a cruelty-free world.
"Surely web sites are hard to build?"
Multimedia extravaganzas take months to design and cost lots of money. By contrast, text-based sites are not technically challenging. They don't cost anything to produce. Creating clean, fast-loading, information-rich pages doesn't take a team of professional web designers or computer programmers. Electronic publishing just needs a bit of time and thought.
"Isn't web hosting expensive?"
Setting up a web site needn't cost anything at all. If you haven't got your web hosting sorted out already, then unlimited free hosting is on offer for non-commercial sites. For details on running your web site, see e.g. the Knightsbridge Online FAQ.
"I'm not a psychopharmacologist or a geneticist. I'm not even a scientist. How can I make a difference to the abolitionist project?"
We are on the brink of a revolution in reproductive medicine. Decoding the human genome allows us to choose the genetic make-up of our offspring. The ethical choices we make - and the ethical choices made by our children and grandchildren - will determine how much or how little suffering exists in the world. Participating in the imminent post-Darwinian transition just means making - and persuading other prospective parents to make - informed reproductive decisions about just what kinds of (post-)human beings we want to exist. On the one hand, we can opt to retain the legacy wetware of our hominid ancestors. This choice entails condemning our children and grandchildren to a genetic predisposition to suffering and malaise. Or alternatively, we may decide that our descendants should enjoy lifelong mental health. Gradients of intelligent bliss can be the genetically preprogrammed backdrop to everyday life.
"I'm a high-school student. What should I study to promote paradise-engineering?"
In the short-to-medium term, clinical psychopharmacology, molecular genetics and genomic medicine are useful disciplines. In the long run, the challenge of rewriting the vertebrate genome and redesigning the global ecosystem will take advances in quantum computing and nanotechnology. Studying philosophy, and in particular Ethics, can be valuable as well. Also, consider contributing to the Wikipedia.
"Does BLTC publish material in other languages?"
The Abolitionist Project is currently available in Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. We hope to publish literature in other languages soon. Please let us know of any typos, errors or infelicities of style.
"Does BLTC accept donations?"
BLTC does not solicit contributions from members of the public. Billionaire philanthropists and charitable trust fund managers may contact us in confidence today.
"What does the 'BLTC' in BLTC Research stand for?"
'BLTC' was coined originally as a tongue-in-cheek acronym for the old DuPont motto 'Better Living Through Chemistry'. Since such a slogan understates the moral urgency of the abolitionist project, the acronym was dropped.
"Where is BLTC based?"
We are based in Europe. We have a small but far-flung network of sympathisers and supporters in most countries.
"Can I join? What are the tenets of BLTC?"
BLTC does not have a formal membership structure. Our only tenet is that biotechnology should be used to abolish suffering throughout the living world.
e-mail
dave@bltc.com