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knb comments on A Much Better Life? - Less Wrong
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If Gamma and Omega are really so mystified by why humans don't jack into the matrix, that implies that they themselves have values that make them want to jack into the matrix. They clearly haven't jacked in, so the question becomes "Why?".
If they haven't jacked in due to their own desire to pursue the "greater good", then surely they could see why humans might prefer the real world.
While I acknowledge the apparent plothole, I believe it is actually perfectly consistent with the intention of the fictional account.
I agree. I assume your intention was to demonstrate the utter foolishness of assuming that people value achieving pure hedonic experience and not a messy assortment of evolutionarily useful goals, correct?
I think the problem could be solved by adding a quip by Gamma at the end asking for help or input if Omega ever happens to step out of the Machine for awhile.
To do this effectively it would require a few touchups to the specifics of the Machine...
But anyway. I like trying to fix plot holes. They are good challenges.
Psychohistorian initially changed the story so that Gamma was waiting for his own machine to be delivered. He changed it back, so I guess he doesn't see a problem with it.
It could simply be that Gamma simply hasn't saved up enough credits yet.
It also makes the last point about wanting to forcibly put bill their customer's accounts strange. What use are they envisaging for money?
Sometimes, it seems, fiction actually is stranger than truth.
So that they can afford to build more of these machines.
This second point doesn't really follow. They're trying to help other people in what they perceive to be a much more substantial/complete way than ordinary, hence justifying their special necessity not to jack themselves in.
Just because they estimate humans would want to jack in doesn't mean they themselves would want to.
But are humans mystified when other creatures behave similarly to themselves?
"Those male elk are fighting over a mate! How utterly bizarre!"
Presumably, Gamma and Omega have a less biased world-view in general and model of us specifically than non-trained humans do of elk. Humans have been known to be surprised at e.g. animal altruism directed at species members or humans.
I hope for the sake of all Omega-based arguments that Omega is assumed to be less biased than us.
Simple answer would be to imply that Omega and Gamma have not yet amassed enough funds.
Perhaps most of the first generation of Omega Corporation senior employees jacked in as soon as possible and these are the new guys frantically saving to get themselves in as well.