Wireheads aren’t truly hedon-maximizing either. If they were, they’d eat and drink enough to live as long as possible and push the button a greater total number of times.
They are hedon-maximizing, but with a very short time horizon of a few seconds.
If we prefer time horizons as long as possible, then we can conclude that hedon-maximizing implies first researching the technology for medical immortality, then building an army of self-maintaining robot caretakers, and only then starting to hit the wirehead switch.
Of course this is all tongue in cheek. I realize that wireheads (at today’s level of technology) aren’t maximizing hedons; they’re broken minds. When the button stops working, they don’t stop pushing it. Adaptation executers in an induced failure mode.
It depends on your discount function: if its integral is finite over an infinite period of time (e.g. in case of exponential discount) then it will depend on the effort of reaching immortality whether you will go that route or just dedicate yourself to momentary bliss.
Wireheads aren’t truly hedon-maximizing either. If they were, they’d eat and drink enough to live as long as possible and push the button a greater total number of times.
They are hedon-maximizing, but with a very short time horizon of a few seconds.
If we prefer time horizons as long as possible, then we can conclude that hedon-maximizing implies first researching the technology for medical immortality, then building an army of self-maintaining robot caretakers, and only then starting to hit the wirehead switch.
Of course this is all tongue in cheek. I realize that wireheads (at today’s level of technology) aren’t maximizing hedons; they’re broken minds. When the button stops working, they don’t stop pushing it. Adaptation executers in an induced failure mode.
It depends on your discount function: if its integral is finite over an infinite period of time (e.g. in case of exponential discount) then it will depend on the effort of reaching immortality whether you will go that route or just dedicate yourself to momentary bliss.