Posted by alexandra_k on March 18, 2005, at 14:13:44
In reply to Re: The Greatest Happiness contradiction » alexandra_k, posted by AuntieMel on March 18, 2005, at 12:56:03
> Well, if the machine knew me it would know that I am at my happiest when my brain is taxed and I need to solve a problem, provide a solution or whatever.
Okay. So it would stimulate your brain in such a way that you would have experiences of solving problems, providing solutions etc.
> So, I could not be happy if my brain were removed. Period. Thus no happiness machine for me.Ah, but if it would make you happier not to know you are in the greatest happiness machine then that can simply be written into the program. You wouldn't know / remember that your brain had been removed.
Think of it like this... There is your brain. Your brain has all these afferent (input connections) from your different sensory modalities. Vision, hearing, etc etc. Also tactile information. Then there are all these efferent (output) connections that are hooked up to muscles, limbs etc.
Neurons are either / or things. They either fire (send a signal) or they don't.
So these superbeings carefully sever all the afferent and efferent connections to remove your brain from your body. They provide a lovely nutrient bath for it so that it is kept alive and healthy. Most probably such a de-afferented brain would be comatose - but just in case there may be spontaneous waking the superbeings could give it something to put it to sleep...
All they have to do is provide the right pattern of 'fire / don't fire' to every (severed) afferent connection to produce the experiences of anything you like in the brain.
And hook up every (severed) efferent connection to the simulated world in such a way that your body seems to move in the way your brain has ordered through the virtual environment.
You would get a virtual body and all (if that makes you happy of course...)
Fairly simple in principle...
Most probably intractable in practice
(there are so very many neurons...)
Just like it is possible to build a stainless steel ladder to the moon in principle...
But it is not remotely possible as a matter of fact...So the idea is that it wouldn't be too much of a problem (in principle) for these superbeings...
I mean, it may turn out that they don't need to preserve EVERY afferent and efferent connection for high fidelity smello feelo VR. A courser grain may be indistinguishable in our daily 'lives'.
Somehow these superbeings have managed to understand the relationship between patterns of firing afferent neurons and the state of the world... So they know which patterns to 'feed in' to the afferent neurons to have you 'experience' anything you could / would experience in response to the real world - and a whole heap more besides...
So the point of the elaboration is supposed to be that the superbeings can stimulate your brain in such a way that you would have experiences that are indistinguishable from those you face in the real world. (Like how you can have some dreams that are indistinguishable from waking experiences). But not only that: they have figured out how to modify things so that you will experience all the things that would result in your being happy. Solving puzzles or whatever. lets say that you would be happier in the 'greatest happiness machine'. If so then would you hook up - or do you think that there are other things that are of value that the greatest happiness machine couldn't provide? If you don't want to hook up then it seems to indicate that there are other things that are more important to you than happiness...
And of course yet another question is: and how do we know that we aren't just brains in vats right now anyway???
poster:alexandra_k
thread:471916
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050316/msgs/472501.html