Kaj_Sotala comments on You cannot be mistaken about (not) wanting to wirehead - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 26 January 2010 12:06PM

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Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 26 January 2010 03:58:23PM 1 point [-]

The main problem I have with wireheading is the notion of me simply being and not doing anything else. If I could just alter my mind to be maximally or close to maximally happy nearly all the time, but still letting me do all kinds of different things and still be motivated to do various things, I'd have a much smaller problem.

Comment author: tut 26 January 2010 04:18:46PM 4 points [-]

Good news for you then: Humans are not understimulated rats. There was an experiment where some psychologists gave some subjects electrodes and a device which stimulated their "reward center" (this was back when it was believed that dopamine was the happiness chemical and desire-wireheading was the same as happiness-wireheading) whenever they pushed a button. They also recorded every time the button was pushed. The subjects carried the electrodes for a while (I believe it was a week) and then returned them. All the subjects went about their lives, doing normal things with about their normal amount of motivation. All of them used the button at least a few times and reported that they liked it. But only one guy used it more than ten times per day, and he was intentionally (but unsuccessfully) using it for classical conditioning.

Comment author: Morendil 26 January 2010 04:21:28PM *  4 points [-]

A reference would be nice - please. :)

Comment author: tut 26 January 2010 05:13:37PM 4 points [-]

This is the best I find right now and I need to go to bed. They retell the same anecdote that I referred to at the end of that piece.

Here is the relevant part:

Heath tells us some of his patients were given "self-stimulators" similar to the ones used by Old's rats. Whenever he felt the urge, the patient could push any of 3 or 4 buttons on the self-stimulator hooked to his belt. Each button was connected to an electrode implanted in a different part of his brain, and the device kept track of the number of times he stimulated each site. ... We ask Heath if human beings are as compulsive about pleasure as the rats of Old's laboratory that self-stimulated until they passed out. "No," he tells us. "People don't self-stimulate constantly -- as long as they're feeling good. Only when they're depressed does the stimulation trigger a big response. There are so many factors that play into a human being's pleasure response: your experience, your memory system, sensory cues..." he muses.

Though in the version I read several years ago the events were in a different order. And they were actually talking about this as a means to reach the happy equilibrium that Kaj is talking about, so they talked much more about the other subjects in the experiment. I had forgotten that Heath interfered with the gay guy after, because that was kind of downplayed.

Comment author: denisbider 26 January 2010 03:59:59PM 0 points [-]

I imagine the ultimate wireheading would involve complete happiness and interfacing with the FAI's consciousness, experiencing much more than is possible by a solitary mind.