Wireheading done right: stay positive without going insane (2016)

Even in that distant future though, wireheading would be a practice that fundamentally damages the emotional feedback loops that led to that type of society being formed in the first place. (i.e. the feedback loops that cause people in a society to reject agents that want to change or destroy it.)

Without those feedback loops, a perfect utopia would become an unstable equilibrium, because nobody has any reason to prefer that society over any other society. Thus, you could argue that wireheading is long-term incompatible with a perfect utopia.

There is an "out", which is to just have some of the population wirehead, and then have the society be steered by the individuals that don't wirehead, and therefore can make ethical decisions. Alternatively, you could emulate Ian Bank's Culture, and remove decisionmaking power from human hands entirely via automation. But really, even in that world, I'd rather be one of the un-wireheaders who retained their ethical agency, even if it came with suffering. At least, I think I would... although I'm not sure exactly why.

It's an interesting thing, because I also take caffeine, and exercise, and meditate. Maybe it's just a matter of degrees, a sliding scale. But "too much of a good thing" isn't unheard of, and I have a strong suspicion that "pleasure control" is one of those things that's tolerable in small doses, but ultimately isn't conducive to survival or satisfaction, especially taken to the extreme of avoiding negative emotions entirely.

Let us begin by enriching our understanding of the nature of bliss and its temporal dynamics:

What is Bliss?

Briefly stated, bliss is the absence of pain or discomfort. It has been defined as "the pleasant feeling one gets when thinking about something pleasurable." This definition captures the essence of bliss, but there are many other definitions floating around out there. For example, Wikipedia defines it thus: "The experience of being completely contented and without anxiety" [1]. Another definition comes from the Oxford English Dictionary: "A state of mental or emotional well-being; happiness" [2].

There is no question that we want to avoid pain and suffering. We also know that we can't do so if we don't even have awareness of them. But how does this relate to bliss? One way is to say that bliss is a kind of transcendent pleasure. If you're having trouble visualizing this, imagine that you're on a beach and you see a beautiful sunset. You could enjoy the view forever, but eventually your eyes start burning and water starts coming out of your nose. At some point you realize that the sun isn't really shining at all, it's just reflecting off sand grains in front of your eyes. So what happens next? Do you stop enjoying the view entirely because it doesn't feel like paradise anymore? No! All you need to do is go down the beach a little ways and the sun's rays won't be striking your eyes at that angle anymore. You can keep on enjoying the view forever if you want to, or at least as long as you can stand being outside without sunblock.

It's a well known fact that our conscious experience of things tends to fade over time. In psychology this is known as Hedonic Adaptation. We quickly get used to things being a certain way, and then we seek out new things to experience. This is why we buy lots of stuff, take lots of trips, try new hobbies, etc. One could also call this the hedonic treadmill. It might seem like paradise is always just out of reach no matter how hard we try, but this isn't quite true. The truth is that hedonic adaptation works both ways. If we stop doing the things that we've gotten used to, then our hedonic adaptation goes in reverse. In other words, if you spend all your time sitting on the couch watching Netflix, eventually you'll get bored of that and will seek out new experiences. You'll start going for walks, or going to the movies, or learning a new skill, or whatever else. At some point you'll realize that your life has meaning again. And, just like that sunset that made your eyes burn, you'll find that this new meaning starts to fade over time. It's all a matter of what you've gotten used to.

If all this is true then it seems like we can easily achieve perpetual bliss without needing to do anything drastic at all. All we have to do is keep on top of our hedonic treadmill by seeking out new experiences on a regular basis. Unfortunately it isn't quite that simple. Our hedonic treadmill is extremely complex, and there are certain things that interfere with it in ways we don't fully understand.

In fact, it's not just a question of keeping on top of our hedonic treadmill. It's more a matter of keeping ahead of it. If we fall behind for too long, we will eventually hit a low point from which it will be very difficult to recover. It's like running a race. If you're ahead of your opponent for the whole race, then you can pretty much take it easy for a while and still win. However, if you start to fall behind, then every second that you don't pick up the pace makes it harder to catch up again. Eventually you'll hit a point where it becomes impossible to win, no matter how hard you try.