A documentary about the popular Danish comedian Anders Matthesen, shot between 2012 and 2016.

Den anden side

'Hunting for Hedonia' explores how the burgeoning technology of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) will impact human identity and our sense of self. DBS is a revolutionary tool in neuroscience and as a treatment it is crossing over from movement control in Parkinson's to alleviating mental illness. Trials are underway in depression, OCD, PTSD and eating disorders. In addition, DBS has a fascinating forgotten history. In 1950, psychiatrist Robert Heath was the first to implant electrodes deep in the brain of a human and in the ensuing years he treated more than 70 patients in his deep-brain stimulation program at Tulane University. Heath wanted to cure schizophrenia, but expanded his method to be used to treat depression, chronic pain, and even aggression. His method was to stimulate the brain's pleasure as he explored pleasure as part of the psychological healing process. But his focus on pleasure got him in trouble and erased him from scientific memory. 'Hunting for Hedonia' contrasts history and present developments to examine and elucidate where DBS is going. Will this promising technology change psychiatry? And will the nifty electrodes move on from correcting abnormal activity in disease to perhaps 'correcting' unwanted but in fact normal activity? In other words: how far should - and would - the surgeons go in modulating our emotions and personal characteristics? If pleasure is just the push of a button away, will you want to push it?

Hunting for Hedonia

Every time a new technology emerged, it changed our lives and our society. Today, this development is going faster than ever before. At the same time, the crises seem to be piling up on our only planet. What should we do? A group of the world’s leading scientists take up the fight and isolate themselves for ten days in a secluded spot in the desert of New Mexico to develop real solutions for today’s most urgent problems - and there is plenty to choose from. They come from all scientific disciplines and represent the environment, the economy, democracy, social media, education and artificial technologies. In just ten days, they want to start a movement with an ambitious goal: to secure the future of humanity through science, both in theory and in practice. Pernille Rose Grønkjær was given exclusive access to the ambitious think tank during the entire event last year.