Philosophy work

From the Nozick document

1. I don’t think that I would choose to plug into the experience machine. I don't think that at this point in my life I really know all of the experiences I even want in my life. A lot of the time I find the things I never saw myself doing or the experiences and opportunities that were unexpected as the best life experiences. I would not want to miss those even if the road to them was not all pleasurable and good.

2. I don’t think that this necessarily proves that hedonists are wrong. I think that there is value and pleasure to be derived from actually doing life. Those who choose not to plug in could be pursuing the pleasure of surviving adversity and coming out with a better life in the end.

3. Not all experiences are good but there can be valued derived from negative experiences. For example, facing your fears if you have to experience something you are afraid of the experience will still be negative but there is value in knowing that you can overcome that experience even if the experience is still negative for you.

4. Plugging into the machine is kind of giving up. Life is hard and not everything or even most things you experience is pleasurable but you are still an active participant in life. By plugging in you are no longer actively participating in life you are watching a movie of how your life could have been. You miss out on everything real.

From the class document

1. I think that there is not a lot of context around this question and I believe that my answer could vary depending upon the circumstances. For example, if my friend had experienced only misery in their life and was plugging in to remove them self from how painful their life is than I would not stop them. However, if they preferred to plug in because living life seemed like too much effort I would try to convince them not to do it.

4. I do believe that a life can be meaningful because the person believes that their life has meaning. I cannot think if criteria that one has to meet in their life where is suddenly has meaning. If the criteria that creates meaning in life cannot be defined than maybe life in and of itself has meaning. If someone lives a secluded life all alone and very mets another person in their life but believes that their life has meaning and lives their life in a way they think is meaningful why wouldn’t if be meaningful. I think that even fulfillment in life can be fairly subjective people try to define what that is and what a fulfilled or good life consists of but if someone only ever lived alone and ate cereal and that was fulfilling to them then they had a good life.