The Experience Machine By Robert Nozick Anarchy, State, And Utopia

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Recommended: Philosopher Robert Nozick's "Experience Machine

Reflection Paper – The Experience Machine
In Robert Nozick Anarchy, State, and Utopia, he describes a machine that could stimulate any programmed experience when attached to the machine. With this experience machine a person could program the next two years of their life, not realizing they are floating in a tank attached to a machine. The experiences that are stimulated seem so real that person will actually perceive it as reality. After the two years have passed, the person will then have ten minutes to ten hours out of the tanks to reprogram the next experience for the next two years (Nozick 43). As a result, the experience machine is the greatest and only stimulus for their experience for the rest of their life. Nozick uses the experience …show more content…

Nozick presents a strong argument, in regards to whether someone would want to spend time or not spend in the experience machine. I believe that when faced with the choice of experiencing a life only by stimulation in the Experience Machine or attained by the presence in reality, most people would choose reality. Most people would prefer to experience the journey, rather than just the destination. This experience and journey is crucial as it helps to develop one’s values and beliefs. One cannot truly develop genuine values in a superficial programmed machine. Hence, the experience through reality is more valuable than the hedonic artificial experience of the Experience

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