Is a Happy Life Synonomous with a Good Life?

This video seems to be the perfect example of The Experience Machine, and after watching it I question why I ever said "I don't think I would plug in" in class. The man enters into a beautiful house with beautiful women in an exotic location and then proceeds to party and spend time with friends. The happiness he experiences seems to be fulfilling and living an incredibly happy life. According to Hedonism, it is my moral responsibility to immediately put that helmet on because it would bring me happiness. However, Desire Satisfaction Theory would not agree because my greatest desire is not to be happy - it is to live a good life. But are a happy life and a good life synonymous? I do not believe so. To put on the helmet and experience joy, I would have to give up Kazez's list of "necessities".

Kazez lists happiness as the first necessity. She claims that happiness is always a good thing because it generally accompanies good and is consistent with one's life's current trajectory - an increase in happiness usually causes an increase in well-being. So according to Kazez, the Experience Machine really is a good thing, bringing us the undeniable goodness of happiness. But this happiness is gained at the expense of other necessities. Autonomy, self-expression, and morality all come as a byproduct of unhappiness, or from learning experiences, and the Experience Machine would render these factors obsolete.

Kazez regards autonomy to be as equally critical to the good life as happiness. This throws a wrench at the Experience Machine because once plugged in, an individual is set on a path decided for them by the Machine. Although the simulation will cause them to feel like they're making their own choices, that is not the case. As humans, we all value "reality" and the knowledge that we are the force for change in our own lives. The happiness and satisfaction gained when one dreams that they earned an A on their paper is nowhere close to the happiness and satisfaction they gain when earning an A in real life. This feeling of contentment partially comes from the difficult choices they made to reach their goals, such as hard work, forfeiting happiness and free time, etc. There are other examples of these types of scenarios, too - choosing what to study and then major in, and do for the rest of my life is daunting and stressful to even think about. However, I would be even more unhappy if the Machine chose for me, even if it promised to dispel all the hardship.

This ties in with Kazez's third necessity - self-expression. If we cannot make our own choices, and all of our decisions are dictated for us, then how are we to truly express ourselves within The Machine? When initially plugging in, the Machine most likely receives all of the individual's current information, including how they dress, speak, and behave, in order to be as realistic as possible. But in the real world, individuals grow and develop into alternate versions of themselves based on their experiences. The only way the Machine would be able to simulate that change is of its own accord - the personal development one undergoes is prescribed by the experiences that the Machine chooses to give to the individual.

Lastly, does the concept of morality fit into the world the Machine creates? If we are not free to actually choose, then what makes our decisions moral? Kazez argues that morality is valuable because it makes us less alone and helps us build a legacy that lives long after we have died, such as building houses with Habitat for Humanity or becoming a counselor for children in broken homes. Moral decisions are not always easy and do not always bring about happiness. They are oftentimes difficult and require a commitment to bringing about good even if it doesn't benefit the individual directly. The Experience Machine does not allow for unhappiness and thus the only decisions one could make would be the easy ones, or moral decisions that directly benefit us because they bring us happiness and satisfaction that we are conquering our own desires for comfort and relaxation. Even if the Machine were to simulate us helping others, it would be because we personally enjoy that, eliminating any notion of self-sacrifice for the sake of being moral.

 A good life requires the necessities, but also the decision to pursue those necessities regardless of any hardship we might endure. In the experience machine, if the hardships brought us even the smallest bit of unhappiness, we wouldn't experience them. Moreover, a good life requires that individuals make the difficult choice to live morally despite the ease of simply doing what makes one happy. The Experience Machine most likely goes the second route, bringing the individual happiness regardless of the cost. The best way to get around this issue, if you really wants to pursue a life in the Machine, is to tell the Machine that a good life is what will make you happy, even if it includes hardship. However, this does not account for autonomy nor self-expression.

Ultimately, plugging into the Machine will guarantee happiness, but not goodness, and if you, like myself, value a life of freedom and personal growth, I would strongly advice against plugging in.