“Suffering exists only because it was good for our genes. Conditionally-activated negative emotions were fitness-enhancing in the ancestral environment. In the current era, apologists for mental pain are serving as the innocent mouthpieces of the nasty bits of code which spawned them.”

— David Pearce (philosopher)

" The Good Drug Guide: The Responsible Parent's Guide to Healthy Mood-Boosters for All the Family https://www.hedweb.com/gooddrug.htm", BLTC Research, 2012

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Suffering exists only because it was good for our genes. Conditionally-activated negative emotions were fitness-enhanci…" by David Pearce (philosopher)?

David Pearce (philosopher)28

British transhumanist 1959

Related quotes

“Too many of our preferences reflect nasty behaviours and states of mind that were genetically adaptive in the ancestral environment. Instead, wouldn't it be better if we rewrote our own corrupt code?”

David Pearce (philosopher) (1959) British transhumanist

" The Abolitionist Project https://www.abolitionist.com/", Talks given at the FHI (Oxford University) and the Charity International Happiness Conference, 2007

“The expression of negative emotions gives rise to endless pain and suffering.”

Leon MacLaren (1910–1994) British philosopher

Adago, John. East Meets West (p. 150)

“The way out of our negative emotions is into our negative emotions. The way out of our illusions is into our illusions. The way out of our suffering is into our suffering.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

“It is ok to feel negative. In fact it's ok to feel any emotion you are currently experiencing. Experience the negative emotions but don't live them.”

Ralph Smart

“Our choices from diet to outlook to emotional state directly alter our neural and gene activity at every moment.”

Rudolph E. Tanzi (1958) neurologist

Twitter quote - Dr. Rudy Tanzi (@RudyTanzi), https://twitter.com/RudyTanzi/status/601019940255232001

“We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well.”

Lewis Thomas (1913–1993) American physician, poet and educator

"The Tucson Zoo", p. 9
The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (1979)
Context: We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well. We are stamped with stereotyped, unalterable patterns of response, ready to be released. And the behavior released in us, by such confrontations, is, essentially, a surprised affection. It is compulsory behavior and we can avoid it only by straining with the full power of our conscious minds, making up conscious excuses all the way. Left to ourselves, mechanistic and autonomic, we hanker for friends.