The Nozick's Experience Machine - Essay Sample

Introduction

Humans have always tried to understand the balance between pleasure and pain in life. Robert Nozick presented his philosophical thought experiment "The Experience Machine", in an attempt to disprove ethical hedonism. Humans always want to enjoy the happy moments to their maximum potential. Hedonism claims that happiness is the highest and most essential part of life. This seeks to bring an understanding that any other component in life that is not pleasurable does not increase one's well -being. Nozick thought experiment brings in an image of a choice between the everyday life reality and a preferable simulated reality by use of an experience machine.

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This is the machine designed to give pleasurable experiences that humans desired.In the thought experiment, people can choose to plug into the machine which induces exclusively pleasurable experiences while in reality, one will be floating in a tank with electrodes attached to his or her brain.It is stipulated that while one is hooked up to the machine they are not aware of that. He believed that if pleasure was the most significant thing then people would have a solid reason to be plugged on to the experience machine that would provide the desired sensations. From his thought experiment, a majority of people shared his intuition justifying that people preferred not to be connected to the machine.The justification fitted well with the reasons that he had presented for rejecting the offer.

Nozick's thought experiment weakens hedonism by showing that there are other things that are more important than pleasurable experiences in life. The response to the question of whether I would plug into the experience machine if I had a chance is no. This is solely because as a human I have the ability to reason and understand life occurrences differently. The human personality develops greatly by experiencing true events that occur in real time and not while hooked to the experience machine. As a human, my greatest desire is to achieve real-life goals that are experienced in reality and not through the designed simulation.

Experiencing much pleasure is not all that matters in life more so if one is hooked up on a machine.The machine could fail to work as desired or be controlled by bad people and produce undesired results. Human desire is to do actions and experience the feeling that comes along with it. Being plugged on to an experience machine limits us to a mere manmade reality since there is no actual contact to the reality. In my view, I would desire to live a real life with a certain sort of personality.

The idea of the experience machine could pose a challenge to hedonism since humans desire to do much more than pleasurable experiences that can be simulated. Nozick discovered that people would not plug into the experience machine since it seems like a form of suicide that kills the personality. Humans would not want to reduce them to human created reality as it lacks contact with the deeper reality.

Being plugged to the machine would imply that one is giving up the reality of life and choosing unsubstantial illusions. This means that there are other things that matter to humans besides pleasure. Unpredictable experiences are better than programmed ones and bad experiences are required in order to appreciate the good ones. Therefore, if happiness is not the only thing that enhances the wellbeing of humans then the notion of hedonism is weakened.

Nozick's attempt to disprove the idea that hedonism is successful since the reasons for not plugging into the machine is strong. Plugging on the experience machine is not the best thing for one yet hedonism suggests that plugging in would provide one with desired pleasurable experiences. Therefore hedonism is false. Subjective experiences are not determinants of a good life. He argues that being hooked to the machine would result in memory erasure so that one can distinguish the experiences. He also proves that there are some pleasures that can only be realized in the real world. Some of the pleasures that can be accessed in the real world include free will and the expression of love to friends, family and even the experience in love affair.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be deduced that most people would not plug in the experience machine because humans desire to live a life that is connected to the reality rather than a simulated one. According to my view, Nozick managed to disprove hedonism since there is much more to be desired in life other than pleasure. Happiness just forms a part of the life's experiences but is not the most important thing.

External experiences matter as much as the internal feelings. Life in the machine would only provide illusory satisfaction. Nozick considers the truth to have an intrinsic value even if it is unpleasant. It is better than illusionary experience. Since hedonism is false then there are other things that are able to make our lives worthwhile. According to Nozick's point of view, it is clear that people value their mental states and their experiences in the real world.