Would you plug into a machine that guarantees you a perfect life?

Philosopher Robert Nozick imagined a machine that could give you any experience you wanted — indistinguishable from reality — for the rest of your life, wired up and floating in a tank. Almost everyone, offered the choice, says no. Nozick argued this proves pleasure alone can't be all that matters to us: we also want to actually do things, actually be someone, and stay in contact with real reality.

— Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia — 1974
Go deeper: get the book →