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Does Happiness Have To Be Real?
What a thought experiment can tell us about expectations of happiness
Every so often I find myself imagining that everything in my life is going perfectly to plan. My social life is vibrant, my relationships are all buoyant, and my writing is winning the best accolades in town.
But all this is just in my head. I can imagine whatever I like; it’s what happens in reality that counts. Or is it?
There is a thought experiment put forward by the philosopher Robert Nozick known as the ‘experience machine’. This is a device that can give you all the experiences you most desire. You just tell the engineers what you want to happen to you and they code it into the machine.
The catch is that the experiences are not real but simulated through electrodes to your brain; your body is floating in a tank whilst your perfect-life is projected onto your consciousness by a very clever computer. Every two years or so, Nozick explains, you awake from your suspension and for a few hours, select the experiences you want for the next two years of your life. The question Nozick asks is simple: would you choose to live your life like this? Would you plug into the experience machine?
Nozick was a political philosopher who wanted to use the experience machine as a way to…
