Hello! I've been off touring again, this time through Belgium and a few other places for the last two weeks. Mostly, I went there to ride my bike over some of the toughest roads that professional cyclists ever race. Why? Because of the quote in this sign, that's why! Which also just happens to segue nicely into this week's thought experiment.
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Robert had been sitting in front of the consent form for two hours and still he did not know whether to sign it or shred it. His choice was between two futures.
In one, his prospects were bleak and the chances of realising his dreams slim. In the other, he would be a famous rock star guaranteed to be kept permanently happy. Not much of a choice, you might think. But whereas the first life would be in the real world, the second would be entirely within the experience machine.
This device enables you to live the whole of your life in a virtual-reality environment. All your experiences are designed to make you happier and more satisfied. But crucially, once in the machine you have no idea that you are not in the real world, nor that what is happening to you has been designed to meet your needs. It seems you are living an ordinary life in an ordinary world: it is just that in this life, you are one of the winners for whom everything seems to go right.
Robert knows that once he is in the machine, life will be great. But still, something about its phoniness makes him hesitate to sign the form that will take him to this paradise.
Source: Chapter 3 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick, 1974.
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 292.
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So what would you do? Would you sign up for the experience machine? Or would you rather join me by suffering through your own version of The Wall? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be back on Friday to explain my choice.
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Robert had been sitting in front of the consent form for two hours and still he did not know whether to sign it or shred it. His choice was between two futures.
In one, his prospects were bleak and the chances of realising his dreams slim. In the other, he would be a famous rock star guaranteed to be kept permanently happy. Not much of a choice, you might think. But whereas the first life would be in the real world, the second would be entirely within the experience machine.
This device enables you to live the whole of your life in a virtual-reality environment. All your experiences are designed to make you happier and more satisfied. But crucially, once in the machine you have no idea that you are not in the real world, nor that what is happening to you has been designed to meet your needs. It seems you are living an ordinary life in an ordinary world: it is just that in this life, you are one of the winners for whom everything seems to go right.
Robert knows that once he is in the machine, life will be great. But still, something about its phoniness makes him hesitate to sign the form that will take him to this paradise.
Source: Chapter 3 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick, 1974.
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 292.
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So what would you do? Would you sign up for the experience machine? Or would you rather join me by suffering through your own version of The Wall? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be back on Friday to explain my choice.
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