This reminded me of an essay on artificial pain, where people whose hands could no longer feel pain in some part of their body would get a computer controlled device attached to another part of their body that would hurt them where they were sensitive if they did something that could damage their insensitive body parts.
One problem was calibrating the mechanism to really detect damaging actions (preferably before damage became at all severe).
The deeper problem was that the entire mechanism was optional.
Even the patients who were most “adherent” to the treatment and the most intellectually “bought in” to the idea that pain could protect them from damage would sometimes briefly turn the device off to do things that would cause damage to their hands that they just “really wanted to do” in that moment.
It feels like there’s a lurking idea here related to agency operating on longer time scales? Something something months, years, and decades? Something something low pass filter? Something something Parfit?
This reminded me of an essay on artificial pain, where people whose hands could no longer feel pain in some part of their body would get a computer controlled device attached to another part of their body that would hurt them where they were sensitive if they did something that could damage their insensitive body parts.
One problem was calibrating the mechanism to really detect damaging actions (preferably before damage became at all severe).
The deeper problem was that the entire mechanism was optional.
Even the patients who were most “adherent” to the treatment and the most intellectually “bought in” to the idea that pain could protect them from damage would sometimes briefly turn the device off to do things that would cause damage to their hands that they just “really wanted to do” in that moment.
It feels like there’s a lurking idea here related to agency operating on longer time scales? Something something months, years, and decades? Something something low pass filter? Something something Parfit?
I had not heard of casino self exclusion before! Thanks for that pointer :-)