If you could feel however you want, whenever you want, would you?

[LonesomeLoser]

I read once that when people were asked (for a study or something I'm assuming) "if you could spend your life hooked up to a machine where by pressing buttons you could feel any way you want, whenever you want, would you", most people answer no. It seems most people want to have "earned the right" to feel those feelings.

It took me 2 seconds to decide that I would jump at the chance to be hooked up to this machine. If I would be in a dark room staring at 4 walls for the rest of my life, hooked up to a machine and fed through tubes for nourishment, I would do it in a heartbeat if I knew I could feel anyway I want, whenever I want for the rest of my life. I don't care about "earning" anything. I'm out for what I can get.

Tony Robbins says that we don't really want any of the things we think we want (money, sex, power, success)....we want the emotions we think those things will cause in us. To me that means that nothing, or no one truly matters to me. I don't care about anyone or anything at all, all I care about is how those people or things make me feel. I don't really care about accomplishing anything or achieving anything in life. All I want is to feel good and if I could get that by pushing a button in a room by myself hooked up to a machine hell yeah I would do it. The feelings are what I'm really after.

I really think that if I was watching every person who I have ever cared about, dying a slow, hideous, agonizing death, and I could either help them or press a button that would cause me not to be bothered by watching them being tortured to death I would press the button. I'm absolutely convinced of this, because the only reason I would try to help them is because seeing them being tortured was making me feel bad. If I can press a button and I dont feel bad anymore, why help them?

I think we are all just nervous systems walking around, seeking pleasant stimulation and trying to avoid unpleasant stimulation. People, things, relationships, achievements, are just a means to the end of feeling a certain way. Does anyone here agree with me on this? Anyone else here ever listened to Tony Robbins talking about pain vs pleasure, and got what I got out of it?

 

[Phoenix_of_the_ashes]

I love my humanity for all its good and bad points, so no, **** that machine.

 

[Kerpal]

Wow, I was starting to think I was the only person who thought about this stuff. I don't like to think about it too much though because ironically enough I get depressed easily when I think about things like this.

 

[Phyzzle]

Machines like that are real. An electrode surgically implanted in the right spot in the septal region will cause pleasure.

However, to really work, the machine would have to be made to wipe your memory continuously, so you wouldn't get bored or accustomed to feeling good.

 

[Gubby]

To me this just illustrates the absurdity of "life is about pleasure". To tell the truth, I don't really mind pain. People often inflict pain on themselves for a cause, say, perfectionism. I think there's a deeper level to this, where people are about being people and doing what people do and pleasure and pain is nothing but a signal telling you if you're "hot" or "cold".

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I think it's interesting that the OP asked specifically "if you could feel any way that you'd like" and people are saying in a round about way that they'd only use the machine for one particular emotion; and that they would not choose to use the machine because of that. The machine would allow any emotion yet that seems to have been glossed over.

 

[point-of-life]

tony robbins is right, we want the emotions, of course. but the true emotions aren't felt without those things. you can't truly feel the satisfaction of just having ****ed a hot ***** unless you actually did.

but there are certain feelings you can instantly create without expensive machines. you can use something really simple...READY? it's called DRUGS.

yeah, people have been using drugs for ages, to escape reality and feel a euphoric feeling, etc. it's the same concept. I've used drugs and still do. it's a cool perspective shift, you should try it some time. you probably ALREADY use caffeine, which believe it or not is a drug. some say it's like a extremely tiny dose of cocaine. i don't know about that because i've never tried cocaine. but i've tried other things, and i know there's pharmaceutical drugs that aren't looked at as "drugs" but they do the same things.

point being, it's human nature to be tempted to do these things. but at the end of the day, i'm not a junkie. i don't escape my problems, i know when to stop. i enjoy the pain too. pain is pleasure sometimes. i love feeling anger, sadness and happiness all the same. without one you can't really feel the intensity of the other. life would be boring without different emotions.

 

[redspicyflag]

No

Uncertainty is the spice of life

 

[Kev07]

you fail at life

 

[Flyer]

Is that why you call yourself "LonesomeLoser"?

You need to change that attitude. Fast.

 

[Phoenix_of_the_ashes]

I think it's interesting that the OP asked specifically "if you could feel any way that you'd like" and people are saying in a round about way that they'd only use the machine for one particular emotion; and that they would not choose to use the machine because of that. The machine would allow any emotion yet that seems to have been glossed over.

Plus the dudes that only want to feel good 24/7 are full of ****. You can easily reach that goal by continuously taking drugs.

 

[LonesomeLoser]

Plus the dudes that only want to feel good 24/7 are full of ****. You can easily reach that goal by continuously taking drugs.

What I'm suggesting is a hypothetic scenario that I read about, where one truly could feel good 24/7 without having to do anything to "earn" it. Drugs unfortunately don't work except in the beginning because of cost and because no matter what the drug it is only a temporary escape from reality. To the poster who pointed out that I didn't specify HOW the person hooked up to the machine would choose to feel, I just assumed that its understood that anyone who chose to be hooked up to the machine would always choose SOME form of pleasurable feeling (excitement, love, surprise, comfort, control over others, sex, etc).

To the poster who said that you'd have to fvck a hot woman to truly feel the satisfaction of it, I would point to the Matrix movies as an example of what I'm talking about. People had their brains stimulated in a certain way and for all intents and purposes they were having any experiences their brains were telling them they were. Like Morpheus said, "if by real, you mean that which you can smell, taste, touch....then real is nothing more than electrical impulses in your brain." I'm of the opinion that real IS just electrical impulses in our brain. If we got the same electrical impulses in our brain as if we had just fvcked a hot babe, we wouldn't know the difference. So if we could feel that way by just taking a pill or pressing a button or whatever, why go to the trouble of performing the real act? The feeling is the end, fvcking the HB is just the means and has no more importance than that.

Brains having electrical impulses stimulating it. That's all we are.

 

[Morphiex]

For intended perpuses lets asume that your idea is valid , then what will stop the average joe to not hoook it up to max pleasure mode 24/7.

But then the question becomes would you have the increase the ammount of pleasure you can tolerate everyday.

for example , lets assume you love pizza , favorite food in the world.
you eat it as every meal for a month , will the pizza still be as good as when you first tasted it? you eat it everyday , your body gets used to it , your taste buds get bored. eventually you get sick of it. Life is about variety about experiancing different things.

now you migiht think that hooking yourself to the pleasure machine will give you the same effect everyday everytime , but what happens with our brain is a complex thing, our pathways for these pleasure gates become worn out , experiancing the same emotion for a prelonged time will actually deminish its effects. think abotu having orgasmes every 5 mins of the day , its probably awesome the first 30 mins, but what happens to the brain at the time of an orgasme is very complex, its like fireworks of emotions at the same time , now for that to keep happening you could easily assume that your pathways will become FUBARed.

now for the purpose of being happy joe all day every day, after a time what will determine your happiness, feeling 100% everyday, not being suprised or experiance better joy from another individual. Youl become a mindless robot , liek one of those dogs toys that bark and does the flip , everyday everytime. Happiness wont be an emotion for you anymore , its will be something bland like a shade of gray.
like you said in the first post you wont be sadened by others pain, but aswell you wont be suprised by others care , you wotn feel loved by anothers touch, you wont smile because of anothers silly joke.

(btw for me if i were to see my dearest falling to a horrible death, i would help them, not because i would feel sad , not becasue i pity them, but because they are dear to me, maby you should look at yourself and that answer you provided because thats seriously fvcked up mentality)

being human is about having our emotions affected by our surroundings.
no one can shut the world out and become 100% in control of their emotions.
But by understanding ourselves and our world , how we percieve things and effect things, thats how we can become more happy in the days we have left on this world.

 

[ThreeStorms]

I really think that if I was watching every person who I have ever cared about, dying a slow, hideous, agonizing death, and I could either help them or press a button that would cause me not to be bothered by watching them being tortured to death I would press the button.

So.... would you consider yourself to be a mentally sane person? Serious question.

 

[LonesomeLoser]

So.... would you consider yourself to be a mentally sane person? Serious question.

Yes, because I don't kill, rape, steal, or do anything else violent. I go to work, pay my taxess and don't bother anyone. I don't hear voices telling me to go on shooting rampages or have visions of the Blessed Mother in my morning cereal. It's just that philosophically I differ from most people. Maybe my being a couch potato from a very early age, basically being raised by the television, might have something to do with that. Maybe having had very little life experience compared to most my age (hell I think most teenage boys have been around the block more than I have), I never developed emotionally the way most people do. Maybe just by living life, having experiences and learning from them, figuring out what they like and don't like, maybe that's how people get this emotional development that I never had. But whatever, I don't care enough and am too lazy to do anything about it. But yeah, I think I'm sane for the reasons listed at the beginning of the post. I just see things differently but that's not a crime.

Now, I will say that the REASON I don't kill rape or steal, is because of the CONSEQUENCES of doing such things. Even if I didn't get caught initially, a life of looking over my shoulder because I still MIGHT get found out, its not worth it. If I had super powers and could rob banks and Brinks trucks, and if I could have my way with any HB I want, without having anything myself to offer that would cause her to give her consent, I'm pretty sure I would. I will say that I was very sheltered and spoiled as a kid, never had to do anything even remotely resembling household chores, never got grounded, any of the usual kid stuff. And now in the "real world", I resent having to earn things that I want. I resent having to work for a living, I resent having to have something that a HB would want in order to get her love and devotion. I was given what I wanted growing up just because I wanted it, and I resent that the "real world" doesn't treat me that way. I'll also say that I don't care what I "deserve", all I care about is what I want. And if I had the means to take what I want, with no consequences to me, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Also, if I had super powers I might still not do those things, JUST IN CASE there's an afterlife and I would suffer some kind of consequences there.

 

[HandyAndy]

you fail at life

:crackup:

 

[Morphiex]

Yes, because I don't kill, rape, steal, or do anything else violent. I go to work, pay my taxess and don't bother anyone. I don't hear voices telling me to go on shooting rampages or have visions of the Blessed Mother in my morning cereal. It's just that philosophically I differ from most people. Maybe my being a couch potato from a very early age, basically being raised by the television, might have something to do with that. Maybe having had very little life experience compared to most my age (hell I think most teenage boys have been around the block more than I have), I never developed emotionally the way most people do. Maybe just by living life, having experiences and learning from them, figuring out what they like and don't like, maybe that's how people get this emotional development that I never had. But whatever, I don't care enough and am too lazy to do anything about it. But yeah, I think I'm sane for the reasons listed at the beginning of the post. I just see things differently but that's not a crime.

Now, I will say that the REASON I don't kill rape or steal, is because of the CONSEQUENCES of doing such things. Even if I didn't get caught initially, a life of looking over my shoulder because I still MIGHT get found out, its not worth it. If I had super powers and could rob banks and Brinks trucks, and if I could have my way with any HB I want, without having anything myself to offer that would cause her to give her consent, I'm pretty sure I would. I will say that I was very sheltered and spoiled as a kid, never had to do anything even remotely resembling household chores, never got grounded, any of the usual kid stuff. And now in the "real world", I resent having to earn things that I want. I resent having to work for a living, I resent having to have something that a HB would want in order to get her love and devotion. I was given what I wanted growing up just because I wanted it, and I resent that the "real world" doesn't treat me that way. I'll also say that I don't care what I "deserve", all I care about is what I want. And if I had the means to take what I want, with no consequences to me, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Also, if I had super powers I might still not do those things, JUST IN CASE there's an afterlife and I would suffer some kind of consequences there.

damn , either your just makign this **** up or your really a selfish lazy bastard.

hey i was raised by the tv aswell, i learned stuff on my own, no one came and told me that this was right and this was wrong. but even i understood that hurting people = bad , even if it means you get what you want. seems like you havent understood this.

and for the record im my eyes your not mentally sane.
to be that , you have to have a certain ammount of empathic ability, seems you lack that compleately and only think of what you want without any effort.
if you really think that the only thing holding you back from raping a woman is that you will be found out , seriously talk to a shrink...

 

[(hn)]

Now, I will say that the REASON I don't kill rape or steal, is because of the CONSEQUENCES of doing such things. Even if I didn't get caught initially, a life of looking over my shoulder because I still MIGHT get found out, its not worth it. If I had super powers and could rob banks and Brinks trucks, and if I could have my way with any HB I want, without having anything myself to offer that would cause her to give her consent, I'm pretty sure I would.

Please please please, for the love of humanity, your family, your classmates, and/or co-workers, please check yourself into a mental institution immediately! You are not sane. No sane person would make a statement like that. What if you start using a drug that makes you feel like most other drugs - NO CONSEQUENCES - and you start shooting up a school?

You are completely nuts. Let's all hope and pray that you never get drunk or do any kind of drugs that make you feel invincible (and unfortunately most mind-altering substances do just that).

I will say that I was very sheltered and spoiled as a kid, never had to do anything even remotely resembling household chores, never got grounded, any of the usual kid stuff. And now in the "real world", I resent having to earn things that I want. I resent having to work for a living, I resent having to have something that a HB would want in order to get her love and devotion. I was given what I wanted growing up just because I wanted it, and I resent that the "real world" doesn't treat me that way. I'll also say that I don't care what I "deserve", all I care about is what I want. And if I had the means to take what I want, with no consequences to me, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Also, if I had super powers I might still not do those things, JUST IN CASE there's an afterlife and I would suffer some kind of consequences there.

That's absolutely no excuse for your previous comments. Plenty of people grow up sheltered but don't think about shooting people or raping women. I think you need some serious help, and I really hope you get it before you end up harming other people or yourself.

 

[LowPlainsDrifter]

Something similar to this has me truly worried...

Imagine a game that immerses you in a sensory experience that is extremely close to reality... perhaps you are an "avatar" in this game world, with a first-person point of view.
Scenery is rendered to near-perfection, and the physical interactions between environmental objects or yourself and the environment is also done very realistically.
However it's a version of reality that is skewed. Perhaps the women walking around the virtual street are awesome-looking and easy to pick up... your in-game apartment is luxuriously appointed, and the car you drive is exotic and very fast.
Although in-game physical laws are adhered to, perhaps societal laws are non-existent or are tailored to the player's preferences. No cops show up if you commit a crime... you could walk into any home or business, take what you want, or perhaps even eavesdrop on conversations that could be pre-written for the game, or captured in real time from other players.
This hypothetical game would even offer levitation/flight throughout the virtual world. Isn't flight one of man's most ancient dreams?
I think an environment like that would be so addictively real and "rewarding", that it would be difficult to tear people away to go to work, deal with their families, perhaps even eat...

 

[LonesomeLoser]

Please please please, for the love of humanity, your family, your classmates, and/or co-workers, please check yourself into a mental institution immediately! You are not sane. No sane person would make a statement like that. What if you start using a drug that makes you feel like most other drugs - NO CONSEQUENCES - and you start shooting up a school?

You are completely nuts. Let's all hope and pray that you never get drunk or do any kind of drugs that make you feel invincible (and unfortunately most mind-altering substances do just that).


That's absolutely no excuse for your previous comments. Plenty of people grow up sheltered but don't think about shooting people or raping women. I think you need some serious help, and I really hope you get it before you end up harming other people or yourself.

Well, thanks for the concern. I've been in therapy and taking antidepressants for 10+ years, but I guess there's no cure for being severely underdeveloped emotionally at age 35. I realize in my last post I kind of rambled, but despite my very limited amount of endearing qualities (that's my own opinion, not just repeating what others have told me), I still love talking about myself and could do so for hours at a time.

But the point I was trying to make was, I don't believe there's any "right" or "wrong" aside from how things make us feel. Like Tony Robbins says, its all what we link pain and pleasure to. The Holocaust is as good an example as any I guess. In the same conditions some gave up hope and soon died, while others refused to give up and somehow survived. Why? Some linked more pain to staying alive. Others linked more pain to giving up (I'm talking about emotional pain). Maybe the thought of giving the Nazis the satisfaction of breaking his spirit made him angry and that kept him going. Whatever, those who didn't give up saw something as potentially FEELING better than giving up and dying. It's all about how we feel. That's why I don't rape women or go on shooting rampages. Folks will try to be all idealistic and say "I don't because its against my morals, or because I'm a good person". When its just because they see it as potentially more painful TO THEMSELVES to do those things than not to. They link more pain to the sorrow it would cause the victims, or the victims families, or as I said the thought of always looking over their shoulder in case the cops find him, or whatever.

I don't know what the opposite of idealism is, but whatever it is I'm that. Maybe cynicism? I'm definitely very cynical. Doesn't do much for my depression, but what you gonna do?