What is the meaning of life?

(I will come back with the link to the article later when I find it)

Hedonism certainly makes sense in theory.

Robert Nozick’s thought experiment asks a few thought provoking questions. One of the main things it questions is the nature of hedonism.

Why wouldn’t we want to have the most pleasurable experiences in our life?

Or at the very least, avoid situations that cause us pain? To put that theory to the test is the Experience Machine thought experiment.

You respond to a weird online ad for an unusual experiment at the local university.

At the university you meet an eccentric neuroscientist who gives you an interesting offer. She says, “I have this machine, called the Experience Machine, and it can plug directly into your brain.

It will manipulate your brain to make you think you are experiencing things, when you are simply floating in a tank. Everything will seem real, and you wouldn’t know you’re in a simulation.

It will be indistinguishable from real life. The only difference is that I’ll only program pleasurable experiences into the machine.

That means from the moment you plug in, you’ll experience the greatest things known to humankind and every single second in the machine will be completely and utterly joyful.

The bad news is that there is no turning back, once you plug in, that will be your life. You will never be able to disconnect.

So do you want to hook up and experience a simulated life full of joy and wonder?

Or do you want to live your life that has its ups and downs, but it is real?”

So, what do you do? Do you connect to the machine and live in simulated hedonism or do you choose the real world?

Alan