David Pearce is a prominent figure within the transhumanism movement and one of the co-founders of the World Transhumanist Association (now incorporated as Humanity+).

He approaches ethical issues from a lexical negative utilitarian perspective.

Based in Brighton, England, Pearce maintains a series of websites devoted to transhumanist topics and what he calls the "hedonistic imperative", a moral obligation to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life.

His self-published internet manifesto, The Hedonistic Imperative (1995), outlines how pharmacology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology and neurosurgery could converge to eliminate all forms of unpleasant experience from human and non-human life, replacing suffering with "gradients of bliss". Pearce calls this the "abolitionist project"