Taking a class with Nozick nowadays would be awesome, well fit for current times I might add. Too bad he’s not around. By the sounds of his Experience Machine experiment he was quite ahead of his time. When reading about it sounds like being hooked to a virtual reality world, just like a Utopia. It also reminds of a 2009 science fiction action movie with Bruce Willis called “Surrogates”, it’s based on 2005-2006 comic book series by the same name. If you haven’t seen it you’re in for a treat. Haven’t read the comic though. Among many movies that are superb around the science fiction genre.
Just like a video game or a virtual world, happiness shouldn’t be an escape. There’s also a couple of old episodes of the Twitlight Zone, one called “Stopover In Quiet Town” (I saw it, really creepy but educational. S5 E30) and “Time Enough At Last” which is the 8th episode of the 1rst season (haven’t seen this one but it relates to the problems of technology we are are facing at the moment.)
Hapiness in itself can be an addiction that can involve many forms of pleasure. Without moderation it becomes a problem. What a way to end this 3-part series of essays! Wonderful piece of work. Thank you for sharing!
Completely agree, I'm sure he'd be such a great professor to learn from. Great ideas - Nozick was incredibly ahead of his time, especially when considering today's virtual reality headsets and mainstream discussions regarding a 'metaverse'. As much as Nozick's ideas were quite metaphysical, his work with the Experience Machine is actually getting more and more relevant. For example, if technology advances enough, and we do eventually end up living in a virtual reality world one day (where pain is erased and happiness is maximized), what sort of effects will this have on humanity as a whole?
Thanks for the movie and show suggestions. I'm super glad you enjoyed the series! Thanks for reading!
Maybe the Matrix and the 'red pill' choice is a latter-day version of the Experience Machine. And the classic 'brain in a vat' thought experiment. Also, isn't the promise, made by some religions, of a paradise in the afterlife similar to the experience machine?
Here is why I would not choose the guaranteed experience of happiness: You cannot get away, even in a thought experiment, from the reality that someone or some thing is controlling the experience machine, or could take control of it. Then they could pump horrible experiences into you forever. It's too big a risk to take.
Super fascinating ideas, thanks for your comment. I would agree with you - the experience machine takes away an aspect of our autonomy and agency as individuals. It would be incredibly unsettling to live a life, even if I wasn't aware of it in the moment, where my agency and autonomy as an individual was a mere illusion.
"...the experience machine takes away an aspect of our autonomy and agency as individuals."
Yes. Arguably, without volition and being-an-individual, "autonomy and agency as individuals", we don't even really exist as individuals. So the experience machine is de facto impossible.
Great article, but something seems off about the aversion to the experience machine: even if pain and suffering turns out to be a requirement for a good life, foreknowledge of this wouldn't exist universally, and yet most people would probably feel the aversion, yet not be able to put their finger on why.
One theory is that if the person knows or intuits that the experience is going to be that immersive and so good that one wouldn't want to leave it, it may invoke a fear similar to death (perhaps similar to a religious person who believes for a fact that the next stop is heaven, yet they still don't want to leave here).
A crazier theory is that we live in a simulation, and this is an artifact (or hint, if the programmer/etc has a sense of humor) of it. There are more than a few things like this.
Thanks for reading and for your comment. Those are all very interesting remarks - the artifact theory is especially fascinating. I love the Experience Machine example because, although everyone may not agree with it, it opens the door for ideas such as yours and encourages new lines of thinking which differ from the commonly-held, Aristotelian approach of putting 'happiness' on a pedestal.
Life without some sort of standard, values, ethics, virtues etc., to work on, is bound to be meaningless. What can one accomplish, without having tried, there is no gain, and no happiness. Am viewing Aristotle's happiness as a life well lived, in accordance with one's own guide. If one lives according to one's prescriptions there is a certain area one inhabits and the rest is ignored. Simplicity is hard to get to get to, but a certain contentment may emerge, if not quite happiness as we more commonly appreciate the term.
Thank you, 🙏. Although I am not sure we can find happiness as I believe (and many others) happiness finds us as we travel this journey called life, if we are willing to lean into the suffering. That is where happiness comes from. Thoroughly am enjoying your articles.
I don't understand the thought machine thought experiment. How do you experience anything but not know you have the power? Do you just before you plug in try your best to describe a whole ideal life? Like you'd have to say, there's no pain, I'm rich, my family and I are healthy for a long time, even I'd want everyone alive to be healthy and well for their entire lives?
What I'm rambling on about it, since the machine can indistinguishably make you think you've lived the perfect life and as many people as you could think of or all of existence to have the perfect life, that might be enough for me to try it.
I guess the whole fucked up at times natural "real" world would be going on outside me floating in a tank. But I'd get to live a life where people were happy and healthy and "lived" fulfilling lives. I could ask for that experience. It would be hard to turn down specifically because part of the experiment is you not knowing it isn't real.
The whole thing just doesn't grip me very much but I suspect I'm missing something crucial.
Taking a class with Nozick nowadays would be awesome, well fit for current times I might add. Too bad he’s not around. By the sounds of his Experience Machine experiment he was quite ahead of his time. When reading about it sounds like being hooked to a virtual reality world, just like a Utopia. It also reminds of a 2009 science fiction action movie with Bruce Willis called “Surrogates”, it’s based on 2005-2006 comic book series by the same name. If you haven’t seen it you’re in for a treat. Haven’t read the comic though. Among many movies that are superb around the science fiction genre.
Just like a video game or a virtual world, happiness shouldn’t be an escape. There’s also a couple of old episodes of the Twitlight Zone, one called “Stopover In Quiet Town” (I saw it, really creepy but educational. S5 E30) and “Time Enough At Last” which is the 8th episode of the 1rst season (haven’t seen this one but it relates to the problems of technology we are are facing at the moment.)
Hapiness in itself can be an addiction that can involve many forms of pleasure. Without moderation it becomes a problem. What a way to end this 3-part series of essays! Wonderful piece of work. Thank you for sharing!
Completely agree, I'm sure he'd be such a great professor to learn from. Great ideas - Nozick was incredibly ahead of his time, especially when considering today's virtual reality headsets and mainstream discussions regarding a 'metaverse'. As much as Nozick's ideas were quite metaphysical, his work with the Experience Machine is actually getting more and more relevant. For example, if technology advances enough, and we do eventually end up living in a virtual reality world one day (where pain is erased and happiness is maximized), what sort of effects will this have on humanity as a whole?
Thanks for the movie and show suggestions. I'm super glad you enjoyed the series! Thanks for reading!
Maybe the Matrix and the 'red pill' choice is a latter-day version of the Experience Machine. And the classic 'brain in a vat' thought experiment. Also, isn't the promise, made by some religions, of a paradise in the afterlife similar to the experience machine?
Here is why I would not choose the guaranteed experience of happiness: You cannot get away, even in a thought experiment, from the reality that someone or some thing is controlling the experience machine, or could take control of it. Then they could pump horrible experiences into you forever. It's too big a risk to take.
Super fascinating ideas, thanks for your comment. I would agree with you - the experience machine takes away an aspect of our autonomy and agency as individuals. It would be incredibly unsettling to live a life, even if I wasn't aware of it in the moment, where my agency and autonomy as an individual was a mere illusion.
"...the experience machine takes away an aspect of our autonomy and agency as individuals."
Yes. Arguably, without volition and being-an-individual, "autonomy and agency as individuals", we don't even really exist as individuals. So the experience machine is de facto impossible.
Great article, but something seems off about the aversion to the experience machine: even if pain and suffering turns out to be a requirement for a good life, foreknowledge of this wouldn't exist universally, and yet most people would probably feel the aversion, yet not be able to put their finger on why.
One theory is that if the person knows or intuits that the experience is going to be that immersive and so good that one wouldn't want to leave it, it may invoke a fear similar to death (perhaps similar to a religious person who believes for a fact that the next stop is heaven, yet they still don't want to leave here).
A crazier theory is that we live in a simulation, and this is an artifact (or hint, if the programmer/etc has a sense of humor) of it. There are more than a few things like this.
Thanks for reading and for your comment. Those are all very interesting remarks - the artifact theory is especially fascinating. I love the Experience Machine example because, although everyone may not agree with it, it opens the door for ideas such as yours and encourages new lines of thinking which differ from the commonly-held, Aristotelian approach of putting 'happiness' on a pedestal.
Even philosophers are bad at philosophy...at least the famous guys from the past have an excuse, but what's the excuse for modern practitioners? 😇
Life without some sort of standard, values, ethics, virtues etc., to work on, is bound to be meaningless. What can one accomplish, without having tried, there is no gain, and no happiness. Am viewing Aristotle's happiness as a life well lived, in accordance with one's own guide. If one lives according to one's prescriptions there is a certain area one inhabits and the rest is ignored. Simplicity is hard to get to get to, but a certain contentment may emerge, if not quite happiness as we more commonly appreciate the term.
Really enjoyed this trilogy. There were some good comparisons from all 3 but I would tend to agree that the sole purpose of life isn't happiness.
I'm glad you enjoyed. Thanks for coming back and reading every week!
Thank you, 🙏. Although I am not sure we can find happiness as I believe (and many others) happiness finds us as we travel this journey called life, if we are willing to lean into the suffering. That is where happiness comes from. Thoroughly am enjoying your articles.
Great remarks. Thanks for reading!
Yes, curiosity is key and your “ramblings” seem evidence of such. We all want to know what we don’t know…Are we in the Matrix?
I don't understand the thought machine thought experiment. How do you experience anything but not know you have the power? Do you just before you plug in try your best to describe a whole ideal life? Like you'd have to say, there's no pain, I'm rich, my family and I are healthy for a long time, even I'd want everyone alive to be healthy and well for their entire lives?
What I'm rambling on about it, since the machine can indistinguishably make you think you've lived the perfect life and as many people as you could think of or all of existence to have the perfect life, that might be enough for me to try it.
I guess the whole fucked up at times natural "real" world would be going on outside me floating in a tank. But I'd get to live a life where people were happy and healthy and "lived" fulfilling lives. I could ask for that experience. It would be hard to turn down specifically because part of the experiment is you not knowing it isn't real.
The whole thing just doesn't grip me very much but I suspect I'm missing something crucial.