Wireheading is just what reinforcement learning agents are built to do, so it's not actually a problem.

This comment led me to the following tangential train of thought: AIXI seems to capture the essence of reinforcement learning, but does not feel pain or pleasure. I do not feel morally compelled to help an AIXI-like agent (as opposed to a human) gain positive reinforcements and avoid negative reinforcements (unless it was some part of a trade).

After writing the above, I found this old comment of yours, which seems closely related. But thinking about an AIXI-like agent that has only "wants" and no "likes", I feel myself being pulled towards what you called the "naive view". Do you have any further thoughts on this subject?