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

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 8 November 2013 05:26, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 3:51 PM, Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> > Now, I know John was referring to illegal drugs
>
>
> Actually I was referring to something much more general than chemicals,
> legal or illegal. I'd like to know if it is in the very nature of
> intelligent minds that if they have complete access to their emotional
> control panel they won't be motivated to do anything except move the
> happiness, pleasure, and pride in a job well done knob to a higher setting.
> If Einstein could have felt just as good as he did on the day he discovered
> General Relativity just by turning a knob would he have bothered to spend
> eleven grueling years to actually discover it? It's this sort of positive
> feedback that worries me.

Here's what Einstein would have done if he had direct access to his
brain's control panel: he would have adjusted things so that his drive
to do theoretical physics was even greater, the process more
rewarding, and the dejection from going down a wrong pathway much less
so as to minimise the risk that he would give up. Equivalently, if you
were a heroin addict and could adjust your brain so you get the same
reinforcement from something that you considered intrinsically
worthwhile but normally found too difficult, why would you continue
using heroin?


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou