frost
Assistant executioner
A while ago, Frank Petrexa posted some thoughts on "virtual crucifixion", and contemplating them has brought me to this question.
The situation: It's the future. Thanks to advances in neuroscience, we can produce totally realistic interactive simulations of real life. Connect the electrodes and, as far as your senses are concerned, you're actually experiencing crucifixion.
In Frank's version, it sounds as though you retain all of your background knowledge during the session. You're always aware that the jeering crowd is made up of simulacura, that no nails are actually being driven into your body, and that when the experience is done, you'll wake up intact and undamaged in the 21st century.
But suppose that you can choose to block this awareness during the session. While it lasts, you won't remember that it's a simulation, and you'll have temporary access to a set of memories consistent with it: of being a rebellious slave, or a captured soldier, or a dissident in a ruthless dystopia. Until it ends, you'll believe that you're actually being tortured to death.
There're advantages and disadvantages to each approach. On the one hand, if you opt for awareness, you only get a watered-down version of the crucifixion experience, without the horror of dying. However, if you choose unawareness, that same fear and terror might well keep you from enjoying the erotic aspects of it all.
Just to make the choice harder, this is an incredibly expensive form of entertainment, so you can only do it once in your life—you don't get the option of trying both ways. So, aware or unaware?
The situation: It's the future. Thanks to advances in neuroscience, we can produce totally realistic interactive simulations of real life. Connect the electrodes and, as far as your senses are concerned, you're actually experiencing crucifixion.
In Frank's version, it sounds as though you retain all of your background knowledge during the session. You're always aware that the jeering crowd is made up of simulacura, that no nails are actually being driven into your body, and that when the experience is done, you'll wake up intact and undamaged in the 21st century.
But suppose that you can choose to block this awareness during the session. While it lasts, you won't remember that it's a simulation, and you'll have temporary access to a set of memories consistent with it: of being a rebellious slave, or a captured soldier, or a dissident in a ruthless dystopia. Until it ends, you'll believe that you're actually being tortured to death.
There're advantages and disadvantages to each approach. On the one hand, if you opt for awareness, you only get a watered-down version of the crucifixion experience, without the horror of dying. However, if you choose unawareness, that same fear and terror might well keep you from enjoying the erotic aspects of it all.
Just to make the choice harder, this is an incredibly expensive form of entertainment, so you can only do it once in your life—you don't get the option of trying both ways. So, aware or unaware?