# Pleasure Device

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 11, 2002, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541 "2002-03-11T08:57:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541/21 "2002-03-12T15:12:48Z")

</div>

Interestingly, Niven’s character Lous Wu deals with the addiction aspect of wireheading by having his device only work after a timed interval since the last hit (this can be overridden by the user, but is deliberately made very fiddly to do).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541/22 "2002-03-13T20:39:58Z")

</div>

Wasn’t it also Larry Niven who said the device would be a great aid to human evolution? To wit, the people stupid enough to wire themselves for continual pleasure would die out, removing their stupidity genes from the gene pool…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541/23 "2002-03-15T15:55:39Z")

</div>

Niven has some funny (and erroneous) ideas about evolution (ref. the “luck gene”); **rjung**. If what he said about the pleasure device were true, then generalizing from it, there would be no one today who engages in any risky behavior.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541/24 "2002-03-15T16:04:55Z")

</div>

Slightly off-topic, **Devilman Palmer** , but your username alone sounds like a pleasure device to me. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541/25 "2002-03-16T06:59:45Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by auntie em \*  
> \*\*Slightly off-topic, **Devilman Palmer** , but your username alone sounds like a pleasure device to me. 😃 \*\*

Why, thank you. 🆒

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541/26 "2002-03-17T21:01:08Z")

</div>

Naval sex.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541/27 "2002-03-18T03:29:16Z")

</div>

Personally, I wouldn’t want anything like that, it would make me to anxious before pressing it. What would be cool though is the ability to vary the intensity and build up.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pleasure-device/97541.md?page=1)