The experience machine is a philosophical article which provides additional information to the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' This short theory created by Robert Nozick asks the question 'would you spend a couple moments of distress for a lifetime of bliss?'
The experience machine is like choosing your dream for a certain a number of days, months or even years. Although, during the time you are in the experience machine you are floating in a tank of water with electrodes attached to your brain. There are many benefits to such a machine. An important factor to remember is that you are not aware that you are in the machine. The only time you are aware that it was only an experience from someone else is when the dream is over, then you choose your next experience and start again.
From reading the article I believe Robert Nozick is claiming that the meaning of life is to actually "do" things rather than just experience them. This creates a difference between those who desire something where hard work and dedication is needed and those who simply want to experience the benefits of hard work without putting any effort into it. An example of this could be, someone who works out to gain muscle but also enjoys the discipline and dedication needed to achieve strength, whereas someone else who wants to acquire strength without lifting any weights and not putting in any effort.
Upon reading the article I asked myself, 'would I attach myself to the machine?' One evident key benefit to the experience machine is that someone is able to experience things which they may not have has the chance to. For example, someone who is paralyzed and is not able to use their legs could experience what's it's like to do rock climbing. However, one major drawback is that time will continue while one is in the experience machine, this means that all connection to the outside world will be cut off. This could cause emotional distress to friends and family, especially those who disagree with the use of the machine. Another drawback of the machine is the lack of an experience many desire, which is 'thrill'. This is because for someone to have already experienced something and document into the experience machine, they must have survived. Whereas many people do things such as skydiving or rock climbing as they seek to accomplish something where there is a risk of death, despite them not actually wanting to die. By experiencing something like skydiving through the machine, the outcome is fixed and despite feeling as if you were in a life threating situation, you would know there was no risk of death which results in the absence of 'thrill' or adrenaline for many of those who choose to live with an antinomianism lifestyle.
Despite the benefits and limitations of the experience machine, I believe there one deciding point. I have come to this conclusion with the help of a book called, 'notes from the end of everything'. I believe one of the main purposes of life is to experience things by doing them ourselves because every experience is unique to each individual human being. 'Notes from the end of everything uses an analogy which illustrates that every human has a "one-off ticket to the show, that we get to experience from our exclusively designated seat." This is clear as if you asked one hundred students what their opinion of school is, many would give similar or the same answers such as "boring" or "exciting". However, despite them using the same words to describe their experiences, none of them are truly experiencing the same thing due to the specific way they are feeling during their experience. My overall point is that the meaning of life is that we are given the gift of unique experiences so why would we voluntarily choose to experience a fixed dream someone fabricated for us instead of living everyday knowing no sentient being has ever experienced the same thing as us?
