# Happiness and the Perfect Drug?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happiness-and-the-perfect-drug/319134>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 29, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happiness-and-the-perfect-drug/319134 "2005-08-29T17:56:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happiness-and-the-perfect-drug/319134/21 "2005-08-30T04:27:37Z")

</div>

**Blalron**

> [@](#):
>
> Why is it important to assess the quality of your life?

(etc)  
Not something I can defend on rational grounds. I could say to you that I’m going to give you this stuff and then either kill or not kill all the members of your family, that I’m going to overthrow or not overthrow the government of your country and enslave all of its citizens, that I’m going to blind and deafen and otherwise maim you a little bit at a time, and that you aren’t going to care about any of these things even enough to bother noticing whether I did or did not do them as long as I keep giving you the stuff…but I can’t give you a reason why you should dread this entire situation (assuming of course that it were possible) if you say to me “But why should it bother me as long as I’m ecstatically happy?”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happiness-and-the-perfect-drug/319134/22 "2005-08-30T05:55:44Z")

</div>

> [@Corporate Hippie](#):
>
> “What if everyone was equipped with a convenient little neural implant that would grant them euphoric pleasure at the push of a button?” we asked.

Ah. You mean a [Droud](http://www.wireheading.com/wirehead.html). As **Hampshire** predicted, addiction became a huge problem.

> [@](#):
>
> In order to simplify the hypothetical situation (by removing the need for a surgical implant), we changed the scenario to a miracle drug that stimulated the pleasure center with no side effects, and nick-named it the “Perfect Drug.”

Ah, you mean [Soma.](http://huxley.net/soma/somaquote.html)

> [@](#):
>
> To simplify even further (by eliminating the need to produce, sell, buy, and use a physical drug), we changed the scenario to make the Perfect Drug into a sort of meditation technique that elicits euphoric pleasure.

Hmm… that’s a poser.

Still, I will point out that nearly all the extant authorities on mediation agree that focusing on your own pleasure is a Very Bad Thing. Indeed, some would say that people seeking thier own pleasure is the whole root of all unhappiness and evil in the world.  
I see a trend emerging.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happiness-and-the-perfect-drug/319134.md?page=1)