Analyzing Nozick’s reasons against living in an Experience Machine

Abstract

Robert Nozick’s goal in his chapter on Happiness from The Examined Life is to demonstrate that there is something that we value outside of how our lives feel to us internally. To this end, he introduced the Experience Machine thought experiment. In Anarchy, State, and Utopia, he elaborates on three values that matter in addition to internal experience which ought to dissuade us from plugging in. In this essay I attend to each of the three arguments he posits, arguing that none of Nozick’s three values should convince us as reasons against plugging into the Experience Machine. We are thereby left with no reason against plugging into the machine, and yet dread of plugging in remains. I address this remaining strong conviction against entering the machine. Finally, I address the recent status-quo argument, which suggests the Experience Machine experiment is subject to this bias.