Offered a machine that simulates a perfect life, almost everyone still says no

In 1974, Robert Nozick asked readers to imagine a machine that could give them any experience they wanted, indistinguishable from reality, for the rest of their life. Most people refuse to plug in, which Nozick took as proof that we care about actually doing things and being a certain kind of person, not just about how our experiences feel from the inside.

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