Would You Plug In The Experience Machine?

Would you plug into a machine that could give you everything you wanted?

Imagine a machine that could give you any experiences you wanted. You could fall in love, travel the world, become wildly successful, create amazing things, experience incredible pleasure — and feel as though everything were completely real.

Once connected, you would never know the difference.

This is philosopher Robert Nozick's famous "Experience Machine" thought experiment.

We'll read two short pieces together at the start of the session:

📄 Nozick's original argument against plugging in: https://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil3160/Nozick1.pdf

📄 A provocative counter-argument for why maybe we should plug in: https://irrationalitycommunity.substack.com/p/the-case-for-the-experience-machine

We'll discuss questions such as:

Would you plug in? Why or why not?
Are social media, virtual reality and AI already moving us towards a version of the Experience Machine?
What matters more: how your life feels, or what actually happens in it?

No philosophy background needed, just curiosity and an open mind.

Format: ~30 min reading + ~1 hour 30 min discussion.

Spots limited to 10 to keep things intimate and give everyone room to speak.