Eliminating Bias from the Experience Machine Thought Experiment

Dan Weijers

Background & Goal

• Experience Machine vs. Hedonism(+)

• De Brigard’s(+) Matrix-style reversal

• Can we eliminate status quo bias(+)?

• What is the result?

• What does it mean for Hedonism(+)?

Nozick’s Original

• “gives you any experience you desire” + best ones you can’t think of

• Do 2 years at a time

• “you won’t know that you’re there”

• “Others can also plug in”

• “Ignore problems such as who will service the machines”

• Would you plug in?

Experience Machine vs. Hedonism

• Hedonism (roughly) = pleasure is the only thing of intrinsic value in a life

• Most people (+ you?) don’t want to plug into the Experience Machine= something other than pleasure matters to most people

(+you?)

• Therefore, unless something weird is going on, pleasure is not the only thing of intrinsic value

De Brigard’s Reversals

• Neutral Vignette– You’ve been in a machine your whole life

• Negative Vignette– You’ve been in a machine your whole life +– You are really a maximum security prisoner

• Positive Vignette– You’ve been in a machine your whole life +– You are really a multi $m artist in Monaco

De Brigard’s Reversals

• Neutral Vignette– You’ve been in a machine your whole life– 46% stay in machine

• Negative Vignette– You are really a maximum security prisoner– 87% stay in machine

• Positive Vignette– You are really a multi $m artist in Monaco– 50% stay in machine

De Brigard’s Reversals

• First Neutral Vignette– You’ve been in a machine your whole life– 46% stay in machine

• Second Neutral Vignette– You’ve been in a machine your whole life +– “your life outside is not at all like the life you

have experienced so far”– 59% stay in machine

Can the Exp. Mach. Be Saved?• We want to eliminate irrelevant structural

biases– i.e. reasons why what matters to us becomes

less important

• E.G.– Moral considerations concerning others– Imaginative resistance to machine

performance– Risk aversion– Status Quo

My Neutral Vignette

• Ignoring how your family, friends, any other dependents, and society in general might be affected, and assuming that Experience Machines always work perfectly, what is the best thing for you to do for yourself in this situation?

• Would you plug in?• Result

– 36.6% out of 93 would plug in (double+ traditional result)– Moral considerations of others pretty well dealt with– Some risk factors well dealt with

My Theory for Eliminating Status Quo

• We are irrationally attached to our own current lives (for us)

• We should be less irrationally attached to other peoples current lives (for them)

• We care about other people to varying degrees– We care more about ourselves, then our friends and

family, then strangers• The more we care about someone, the higher

the stakes when considering choices for their wellbeing

• We are generally loss averse in high stakes decisions

My Vignettes

• A stranger is offered the spot

• Your cousin is offered the spot

• Your friend is offered the spot

• You are offered the spot

My Results

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Plug in

Don't plug in

So What?

• I think I have discovered:– Using a stranger seems to reduce status quo

bias– The ‘cleanest’ Exp. Mach. thought experiment

for use against hedonism+ to date

• What about the original argument?

Experience Machine vs. Hedonism

• Hedonism (roughly) = pleasure is the only things of intrinsic value in a life

• Most people (+ you?) don’t want to plug into the Experience Machine= something other than pleasure matters to most people

(+you?)

• Therefore, unless something weird is going on, pleasure is not the only thing of intrinsic value

Half of

half of

Therefore… consideration of the Exp. Mach. can’t tell us if we should value pleasure over reality or not. It’s certainly not a result in favour of hedonism though because all of these experiments together show that both our experiences and reality matter to most of us to some degree

But Philosophers are Better…

• It might be argued that philosophers’ judgments about the Exp. Mach. Are more important

• IWS results show that philosophers make worse errors in judgment about wellbeing than non-philosophers!

• Most philosophers think they are happier than average, but are actually less happy!

Conclusion & Implications

• Our status quo bias might extend to those we care about

• Even a ‘clean’ Exp. Mach. thought experiment doesn’t tell us anything conclusive about wellbeing

• Stop using the Exp. Mach. to show that hedonism is obviously wrong

• Be careful using thought experiments in wellbeing because we are irrationally attached to our own lives