The Experience Machine

If pleasure is the only intrinsic good, then we should do whatever we can to maximize it for the most amount of time. If such a machine existed where we could simulate a maximally pleasing life and the user didn’t know he or she was using it, the fullest life would only be realized through this machine. Controversy exists in the removal of any trueness or meaning to the exterior world around the user with the exception of first-person experience. The people I would interact with in the machine do not have actual “people” or “minds” behind them. They are merely projections from complex software being imaged directly into my consciousness.  The hedonist would probably say there is nothing wrong with the machine. Ignorance is bliss and what you don’t know won’t hurt you. However, the existence of controversy in the first place says something about what actually has intrinsic value.  I do not question the intrinsic value of pleasure, but what of the intrinsic value of meaning and truth? Having an experience machine removes any meaning to the actions we do besides that of getting pleasure; even if the user is unaware of being in such a machine. If someone truly wants to help those in need, the experience machine can easily replicate them having such a life. Though, their actions mean nothing in terms of actually helping the needy. If one were to discover he or she was in the machine (at least for helping the poor), would they not want to get out? They may get pleasure in their ignorance, but their desire is for something beyond personal feeling. Thus, if pleasure is the only intrinsic good, what we sometimes desire does not line up with getting pleasure as the end all.