Sober Philosophy: The Experience Machine (Gabriel presents)

In Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) Robert Nozick proposed a thought experiment: There’s a machine that can give you any experience you want for the rest of your life, whether writing a great novel, living in a high fantasy world, or simply experiencing endless pleasure and no pain. Would you forgo real life and instead live inside the machine? Nozick argues that if only the experience of life mattered, entering the machine would be a no-brainer, and yet most people's intuition is that they shouldn’t. Therefore, concludes Nozick, we value something more than just the experience of life. He posits three candidates:

1. We want to do certain things, not just have the experience of doing them: “In the case of certain experiences, it is only because first we want to do the actions that we want the experiences of doing them or thinking we’ve done them.”
2. We want to be a certain sort of person: “Someone floating in a tank is an indeterminate blob… Is he courageous, kind, intelligent, witty, loving? It’s not merely that it’s difficult to tell; there’s no way he is. Plugging into the machine is a form of suicide.”
3. We want contact with a reality deeper than one we built ourselves: “There is no actual contact with any deeper reality, though the experience of it can be simulated.”

Philosopher Joshua Greene suggests that the intuition against entering the experience machine may be motivated by status quo bias. He offers a reformulation of the thought experiment to test this:

“You wake up in a plain white room. You are seated in a reclining chair with a steel contraption on your head. A woman in a white coat is standing over you. 'The year is 2659,' she explains, 'The life with which you are familiar is an experience machine program selected by you some forty years ago. We at IEM interrupt our clients’ programs at ten-year intervals to ensure client satisfaction. Our records indicate that at your three previous interruptions you deemed your program satisfactory and chose to continue. As before, if you choose to continue with your program you will return to your life as you know it with no recollection of this interruption. Your friends, loved ones, and projects will all be there. Of course, you may choose to terminate your program at this point if you are unsatisfied for any reason. Do you intend to continue with your program?”

1. Would you enter the experience machine?
2. Would you continue in Greene’s version?
3. If your answers differ, why?

2-MINUTE OPENING ROUNDTABLE FORMAT (2ORF):

1. The topic presenter begins the discussion by taking up to two minutes explaining why they are interested in the topic and some introductory thoughts on it.
2. Each participant in turn going clockwise from the presenter has up to two minutes to describe their general thoughts on the topic.
3. If one is not ready to speak they can just say “pass” and the next person speaks.
4. After we've gone around once anyone who passed will get a second chance to comment.
5. Once everyone has given opening remarks or passed twice, Opening Roundtable is completed and the meeting shifts into TDRF>4 below.

TIMED DIRECTION FORMAT (TDRF>4):
If there are 4 or less people present we will have unstructured discussion, otherwise we will use the format below.

1. We will divide up the timed direction discussion time by the number of participants plus one (for a buffer). A timer will be set for this amount of time.
2. Each participant in turn will become a Discussion Director and lead the group discussion.
3. If one is not ready to direct they dimply say “pass” and the next person becomes the Discussion Director.
4. Anyone who arrives after step 1 (above), may participate but will not get a turn as Discussion Director.
5. The Discussion Director can make statements or ask questions, or interrupt or redirect the discussion at their discretion.
6. The discussion participants can state their own opinions only when asked by the Discussion Director, not Interrupt others and accede to the Discussion Director’s interruptions or redirections.
7. When the timer goes off the person speaking finishes their thought and then the next participant clockwise becomes the next Discussion Director.
8. After we've gone around once anyone who passed will get a second chance to direct.

TOPIC SELECTION:
For the last 10 minutes of the meeting, participants will have an opportunity to vote on the topic and format for the following meeting.