Universal Basic Happiness, Part 2

As we continue our discussion of possible solutions to various inequalities, Phil outlines one possible way e could make everybody -- that’s EVERYBODY -- completely happy.

Wireheading: This Strange Experiment from the 1950s Wired Pleasure Directly Into the Brain

In the early 1950s, some very odd experiments were being performed at Tulane University in Louisiana. Dr. Robert G. Heath found that he could manipulate the pleasure and pain centers of the brain by surgically placing electrodes deep inside.

Is it time to turn this into a universally available solution?

Wouldn’t it solve all other inequalities? We could all live in hovels eating gruel every day.

And we’d be happy!

But first we might want to face these rather difficult questions:

Would we be useful?

Would our lives still be meaningful?

Alternatively, virtual reality could open up new avenues of subjective experience without rewiring our brains.

Can VR compensate for sex inequality and income inequality?

On its own, VR will probably never wipe out all those problems. However, VR is actually a subset of a bigger phenomenon. Next time, we’ll look at that bigger phenomenon.

WT 434-747

Eternity Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) | Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License | creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Image from Pixabay.com.