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MENTAL MODEL · M6138

Experience Machine

Experience Machine
CultureHigh supportEthics
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

If there were a machine that could provide you with perfect, realistic pleasurable illusions (where you succeed at whatever you want), would you choose to be hooked up to it for life? Most people would choose not to.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Pleasure is not the only thing. This refutation demonstrates that human beings pursue not only subjective pleasurable feelings, but also 'authenticity', 'personal agency', and 'connection with reality'. We would rather suffer in reality than be ecstatic in illusion.

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The experience machine is a thought experiment proposed by Robert Nozick: if there were a machine that could simulate any pleasurable experience, most people would refuse to plug in, indicating that what humans seek is not just subjective pleasure, but also real action, achievement, and connection with reality. Its mechanism reveals that the 'experience machine' cannot provide 'value of authenticity'—we value being the agent of our own actions, not being given fabricated feelings. It is a philosophical refutation of the utilitarian claim of 'maximizing pleasure'.

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machineZH · Explicit
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