I’d only consider wireheading equivalent to death from an outsider’s perspective. It’s interesting that you’d treat converting a suicidal person into someone modded to happiness worse than a suicidal person ceasing to exist; I can think of a few possible reasons for that, but the only one that appeals to me personally is that a wireheaded person would be a resource drain. (The others strike me as avoidable given a sufficiently patient wireheader overlord, rather than the “just pump them full of orgasmium” overlord).
Wireheading is a snare and a delusion. An ethical theory that would wirehead the entire population as the ultimate good has fallen at the first hurdle.
I’d only consider wireheading equivalent to death from an outsider’s perspective. It’s interesting that you’d treat converting a suicidal person into someone modded to happiness worse than a suicidal person ceasing to exist; I can think of a few possible reasons for that, but the only one that appeals to me personally is that a wireheaded person would be a resource drain. (The others strike me as avoidable given a sufficiently patient wireheader overlord, rather than the “just pump them full of orgasmium” overlord).
Wireheading is a snare and a delusion. An ethical theory that would wirehead the entire population as the ultimate good has fallen at the first hurdle.