A bit of search around that showed nearly no reference to lotus eating/lotus eater in moral philosophy.
Something much closer to “wireheading” would be hedonism, and more specifically Nozick’s Experience Machine, which is pretty much wireheading, but isn’t thousands of years old, and has been referenced here.
(And the term “wirehead” as used here probably comes from the Known Space stories, so probably predates Nozick’s 1974 book)
Well, for one thing, it ought to be obvious that Mohammed would have banned a wire into the pleasure centre, but lacking the wires, he just banned the alcohol and other intoxicants. The concept of ‘wrong’ ways of seeking the pleasure is very, very old.
I don’t think you looked very hard—I turned up a few books apparently on moral philosophy by searching in Google Books for ‘moral (“lotus eating” OR “lotus-eating” OR “lotus eater” OR “lotus-eater”)’.
And yes, I’m pretty sure the wirehead term comes from Niven’s Known Space. I’ve never seen any other origin discussed.
A bit of search around that showed nearly no reference to lotus eating/lotus eater in moral philosophy.
Something much closer to “wireheading” would be hedonism, and more specifically Nozick’s Experience Machine, which is pretty much wireheading, but isn’t thousands of years old, and has been referenced here.
(And the term “wirehead” as used here probably comes from the Known Space stories, so probably predates Nozick’s 1974 book)
Well, for one thing, it ought to be obvious that Mohammed would have banned a wire into the pleasure centre, but lacking the wires, he just banned the alcohol and other intoxicants. The concept of ‘wrong’ ways of seeking the pleasure is very, very old.
I don’t think you looked very hard—I turned up a few books apparently on moral philosophy by searching in Google Books for ‘moral (“lotus eating” OR “lotus-eating” OR “lotus eater” OR “lotus-eater”)’.
And yes, I’m pretty sure the wirehead term comes from Niven’s Known Space. I’ve never seen any other origin discussed.