[ExI] The Problem with Drugs (was Re: kepler study says 8.8e9 earthlike planets)

[John Clark]

On Thu, Nov 7, 2013  Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> wrote:

>> So my next question is could any mind avoid becoming addicted if it had
>> complete unrestricted access to its own emotional control panel?
>>
>
> > of course. Any person interested in achieving any goal, aside from
> bliss,


But the emotional control panel would have more knobs in it than just one
for bliss. If you want to experience a feeling of awe and mystery at the
majesty of the universe just turn a knob. If you want to feel the beauty
inherent in nature turn a knob. If you like to laugh but don't find The
Three Stooges funny turn a knob. If all this knob turning makes you uneasy
just turn yet another knob, now you feel that nothing is more noble than
knob turning.

> would modify its emotions to optimize the likelihood of achieving said
> goals.


We strive to achieve goals because it feels great when we are successful,
but the trouble is achieving goals is almost always hard and sometimes
downright impossible. The obvious solution is to create a much easier goal
with the same emotional payoff. Any physicists alive would feel great on
the day he was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering a quantum theory of
gravity, but he may not have felt better that a eight year old who won his
third grade science fair by showing that a mixture of vinegar and baking
soda makes a lot of bubbles. So forget quantum gravity, it's too hard,
just make bubbles.


> > This might even involve removing the abilty to experience addiction.
>

I don't see how that could be done without removing the ability to be happy
or experience pleasure, and then there would be no motivation to do
anything at all.  You could invert all the switches in your emotional
control panel, but all that would mean is that pleasure and pain would swap
positions; and if sickness and physical injury were pleasurable it could
lead to other obvious problems.

  John K Clark
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