The good life is what
everyone is striving for by going to school, getting a job, having kids, and
more. But is that the actual good
life? A school of thought called
hedonism makes the argument that all those things aren’t what makes up the
ideal lifestyle. Hedonism believes that “a
life is good to the extent that it is filled with pleasure and free of pain”
(Schafer-Landau). The idea of happiness
and only happiness provides someone with a good life. It is extremely broad idea since for me
eating jelly beans makes me happy, but so does going to the gym.
A lot of things makes us
happy, but I believe that the idea of no pain is the more important part of the
definition. It makes that pain would
hinder the good life since no one enjoys surgery or being turned down from
their dream job. No one enjoys those
feeling, everyone would choose a happy experience in their life over a painful
one.
The idea of happiness is
very luring to everyone, philosopher Robert Nozick took this into account to create
a counter argument to why happiness isn’t the most important idea for a good
life. His argument is based around the
idea of a machine call The Experience Machine which:
“gives you any
experience you desired. Super-duper neuropsychologists could stimulate your
brain so that you would think and feel you were writing a great novel, or
making a friend, or reading an interesting book. All the time you would be
floating in a tank, with electrodes attached to your brain. Should you plug
into this machine for life, preprogramming your life experiences? [...] Of
course, while in the tank you won't know that you're there; you'll think that
it's all actually happening.” (Nozick)
It’s a very enticing idea
that you could get your wildness dreams since those would make you the happiest
possible. All you would have to do is
give up your actual life for this life of technology enhanced happiness that
feels real. In this video, Richard Rowland
does a great job with outlining the ideas of it, but really does a good job
with asking the question if it’s better to actual feel and do amazing things in
life or if by merely experiencing them is good enough for a good life.
Supporters of this idea have many good reasons to plug in
such as: The machine allows you to become your ideal person and your wildest
dreams come true. Both are great reasons
to give up your current life and allow your dream life come to you. Plus the machine can be programmed to put barriers
in your path to allow for success to make you feel even happier. Some would say it would be irrational not to
allow yourself to be the happiest possible.
However Nozick offers several reasons why not to plug
into the experience machine. His strongest
case is that “We want to be certain
people – to plug in is to commit a form of “suicide” (Nozick). Since you no longer are “living” your life
you might as well be dead. Also the idea
the machine still only allows for someone to experience a reality created by
humans so the limit of happiness is still what humans can do. The real world can offer any human made
happiness that a machine could in the long run.
I personally wouldn't give up my real life for the
experience machine since the thought of the mentally stimulus of an experience
seems irrational to me. I have a reason
to be here and commitments to my friends and family, and by being out of touch
with them—the real world—defeats the purpose of living in the first place. I won’t lie it would be incredible to have
the ability to feel happiness from winning the Olympics or graduating college
with a 4.0, but that’s not truly what would make me personally feel happiness. Helping others, seeing my dog, and doing what
I love is when I personally am the happiness, and I cannot think of a reason to
give up those actual events.
Knowing all of this, would you plug in for the ultimate
form of happiness and give up your actual life? Or resist and live your life for you and possibly
accept less happiness?
Works Cited
"Philosophy: Hedonism and The Experience Machine."YouTube. YouTube. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <https:
“Robert Nozick, ‘The Experience Machine’”
Shafer-Landau, Russ. The Fundamentals of
Ethics. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
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