So, a really thorough wireheading installation would make me delight in my knowledge, beauty, charisma, and athleticism—even if I don’t actually possess those attributes. And therein lies the problem. The semblance of power is not power.
But you just said you value those things instrumentally, so you can get pleasurable sensations. Raw power itself doesn’t do anything for you, just sitting there.
What I am saying is that my intuitive rejection of wireheading arises because at least some of the pleasures that it delivers are a lie, a delusion.
I can see how, when considering being wireheaded, you would come to reject it based on that. Essentially, you’d see (e.g.) wireheaded power as not actually instrumentally useful, so you reject the offer. It sounds like snake-oil.
But isn’t that a false conclusion? It might feel like it, but you won’t actually feel any worse off when you’re completely wireheaded. Fake capabilities are a problem when interacting with agents who might exploit you, so the heuristic is certainly useful, but it fails in the case of wireheading that actually delivers on its promises.
You won’t need knowledge and power and so on when you’re in wirehead heaven, so wireheading can simply ignore or fake them.
(Disclaimer: muflax does not advocate giving up your autonomy to Omegas claiming to provide wirehead heaven. Said Omegas might, in fact, be lying. Caution is advised.)
But you just said you value those things instrumentally, so you can get pleasurable sensations. Raw power itself doesn’t do anything for you, just sitting there.
I can see how, when considering being wireheaded, you would come to reject it based on that. Essentially, you’d see (e.g.) wireheaded power as not actually instrumentally useful, so you reject the offer. It sounds like snake-oil.
But isn’t that a false conclusion? It might feel like it, but you won’t actually feel any worse off when you’re completely wireheaded. Fake capabilities are a problem when interacting with agents who might exploit you, so the heuristic is certainly useful, but it fails in the case of wireheading that actually delivers on its promises.
You won’t need knowledge and power and so on when you’re in wirehead heaven, so wireheading can simply ignore or fake them.
(Disclaimer: muflax does not advocate giving up your autonomy to Omegas claiming to provide wirehead heaven. Said Omegas might, in fact, be lying. Caution is advised.)
It does.