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Thoughts on Nozik's Experience Machine, Hedonism, and the Culture War
For many years there has been a lot of discussion of Nozik's "Experience Machine." The idea is that there is a hypothetical virtually reality type setup which allows the user to experience a great life, full of pleasure and accomplishment (with just the right amount of suffering), while in reality they are in a Matrix-style pod the whole time. To make the experience even better, the machine is set up so that while you are using it, you are not even aware that the life you are living is a big lie.
Apparently most people, when asked whether or not they would choose such a life, decline the proposal. To Professor Nozik (the man who came up with the thought experiment) this is evidence that people reject hedonism; that most people agree that there is more to life than simply maximizing good feelings.
Having had a chance to think about this in the light of matters I learned from the community, I've come to disagree with Nozik's conclusions. There are various factors in play, but I think one of the biggest is peoples' strong desire for social status. It's simply low status to be so obviously living a fake life. For evidence, consider The Matrix. Put aside the question of who is happier and ask which group is cooler: The Red Pill types who know what's really going on or the Blue Pill types who spend their lives in ignorance. As another example, consider the John Wick movies and ask who is cooler -- the professional assassins who comprise an underworld hidden in plain sight, or the everyday people. The same point could be made about the Harry Potter universe, the world of international espionage (both fictional and real) and so on.
From that perspective, I'm pretty sure that most people would actually choose Nozik's Experience Machine, provided that it was marketed properly. The people pushing the Experience Machine would promote the idea that the life you live inside the machine is actually reality; it's everyone else who is living a lie.
How does this relate to the Culture War? Well, it occurs to me that the Culture War actually offers people a crude version of the Experience Machine. Certain political movements allow people the option to believe in huge obvious lies. In exchange those people enjoy the feelings of (1) moral and intellectual superiority; and (2) social acceptance. I'm talking about false beliefs where there is no possible way that any reasonable, non-deluded person could harbor such beliefs. (I'm sort of conflicted as to whether I should offer some examples, since people who are plugged into the Matrix, so to speak, tend to freak out at the suggestion that they are living a lie.)
My conclusion, based on the above reasoning and evidence, is that Nozik is wrong. A large percentage of people would in fact choose the experience machine and most people are in fact hedonists. You just need to factor social status into the equation.
I don't agree. The experience machine is another version of the blissful ignorance problem for many versions of utilitarianism.
Do you have any desire to not have your spouse cheat on you, as long as you didn't know it (and assuming no disease, pregnancy, etc.)? Most people would say that yes, they have a desire for something to be true that they can't sense and that won't affect their life. And I don't think this is just because it's low social status to have your spouse cheat on you.
That's a very interesting question. One thing I do know is that marital infidelity tends to cause a lot more drama if the affair partner is someone in the innocent spouse's social circles. "How could he humiliate me like that!?" is a question that is often asked. To me, this suggests that, at a minimum, issues of social status play a significant role.
Being a cheated-on spouse is definitely low status, although I am having trouble thinking of additional scenarios to tease out how significant this is.
Well, its not just about status. People do feel humiliated and embarrassed, especially if it is someone in the same social circles. "Everyone else knew but me, they must think I'm a terrible fool or worse, that I knew and was complacent about it!" The idea that others knew and were laughing at you is excruciating.
But it's the sense of betrayal and breaking of trust, as well. Someone close to you has consistently lied and deceived you, and you didn't know (until they did something to arouse suspicion/someone told you/they confessed). They pretended to still love and care about you and went on with the usual domestic life, but they were sneaking around behind your back with someone else, being sexually and emotionally involved with a new person, and diverting their love to that new person. It's very hurtful. Some people can forgive, some can't. I don't know how Mackenzie Bezos wasn't more vengeful in their divorce; maybe there were problems in the marriage before the split, but to find out your husband has been knocking boots with the floozy next door? I'd go nuclear if that were me, but she was a lot more gracious about it (and it's not "because he promised to pay her off", since if she really wanted to be vengeful she could have dragged this through the courts and given his reputation even worse of a hit, revealed a lot of inside scandal about Amazon - and every big company of that kind has some skeletons in the closet).
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