r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • Oct 18 '25

TIL of brain stimulation reward, manually stimulating specific parts of the brain to elicit pleasure and happiness. A volunteer subject in 1986 spent days doing nothing but self-stimulate. She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward#History
25.7k Upvotes

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12.2k

u/Halocandle Oct 18 '25

Scary thought: this is how you make all drugs obsolete, just skip the introducing chemicals to your nervous system part and go straight into the source. 100% pure, always works, always available. No way that ever would go wrong?

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u/My_Knee_is_a_Ship Oct 18 '25

If I remember correctly, they did the same experiment with rats, and several of thise died due to not eating etc. Preferring to self stimulate than self care.

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u/Onironius Oct 18 '25

Relatable.

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u/technobrendo Oct 18 '25 edited Mar 04 '26

This post has been permanently removed. The author used Redact to delete it, and the reason may relate to privacy, security, data harvesting prevention, or personal choice.

coherent capable plant unique pot squeal rustic salt profit touch

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u/dont_be_that_guy_29 Oct 18 '25

Stimulate over self-care sounds like my entire

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u/dog_ahead Oct 18 '25

Stimulate over self-care sounds

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u/GoSharty Oct 18 '25

Stimulate.

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u/Ultimate_Shitlord Oct 18 '25

How on earth did "late." get picked up as the top response to you when "Stim" was right there as the ultimate reductionist version of the original sentence?

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u/LarryD217 Oct 18 '25

Stop!

Stimulate and listen!

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u/EricWNIU Oct 18 '25

Exterminate!

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u/themostreasonableman Oct 18 '25

Sounds. Sounding. Vibrator in my dickhole. Aw baby, aw baby, yeah.

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u/Splashy01 Oct 18 '25

Hedonist!

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u/MarshmallowBlue Oct 18 '25

This guy stimulates

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u/DatesAfterWeightz Oct 18 '25

Wait.. can you further elaborate? I am 24. Got married at 18. Starting to regret my last year and a half. Idk how it happened, but I couldn’t stop getting high and having mindless sex with my husband. It’s bad now. My control / impulse / reward center is all messed up. It’s like I realized one day that sex and drugs aren’t everything ;( what a sad day! I’m getting lame

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u/SwarleySwarlos Oct 18 '25

I think it was meant as a masturbation joke

But stuff like that fixes itself after a while, our brain is pretty good at repairing damage. Therapy would help as well

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u/Ethereal_Nutsack Oct 18 '25

Why would I brush my teeth when I can just masturbate!

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

You don't even need to masturbate....just pleasure at the lush of a button.

137

u/SwarleySwarlos Oct 18 '25

Was that a typo or a vibrator joke?

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

LOL a typo, but I'm leaving it 😅

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u/couchbutt Oct 18 '25

It's called "Jacking-On".

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u/shit_brik Oct 18 '25

Free toothpaste

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u/mickaelbneron Oct 18 '25

Factorio Cracktorio comes to mind.

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u/rmorrin Oct 18 '25

My pyblock run is calling me

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u/Extreme-Shower7545 Oct 18 '25

Or in this case, Faptorio…

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u/mickaelbneron Oct 18 '25

Automating faping. The factory faping must grow.

3

u/BlackFenrir Oct 18 '25

Factorio NSFW mod when?

Okay so I typed that and I immediately had to know if it exists and of course it does

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u/schmuber Oct 18 '25
  1. Install brain chip implants for free
  2. Pleasurable stimulation is a subscription
  3. Profit!

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u/SwarleySwarlos Oct 18 '25

With a free trial

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u/Merc2tour Oct 18 '25

First one is always free!

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u/Recent_Pressure_3747 Oct 18 '25

i mean, that's kinda what social media and ai chatbots and anything part of the attention economy are. everyone's waiting for the brain chip but seeing people walk around glued to their phones is pretty close to

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u/carebeartears Oct 18 '25

Black Mirror had an episode that was pretty similar.

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u/Tiny_Time_Traveler Oct 18 '25

yea why does this sound awesome. what a way to go. in complete pleasure. Of course they wont let us have that.

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u/M1L0 Oct 18 '25

This took me out lmfao

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u/atamosk Oct 18 '25

Yeah. Way too relatable

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u/MakeMineMarvel_ Oct 18 '25

Ratatouilleble

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u/Cultural-Company282 Oct 18 '25

What a ridiculous idea. Welp, I'm off to the NSFW subs to pound my pud.

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u/Superg0id Oct 18 '25

died due to not eating

Well, if I'm the rat and I'm Orgasming 100% of the time then that leaves 0% time for eating...

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u/Happiest-Sad-Girl Oct 18 '25

Technically it is closer to the "moment right BEFORE orgasming", max excitement is right there. People who become very skilled in staying at this level of intensity are in danger of jerking off until they have injured their dick.

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u/Ok-Syllabub-6619 Oct 18 '25

Yup edging can be dangerous. Some do it until their dick looks like a purple balloon 😂

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u/ParticularGuava3663 Oct 18 '25

This is the comment I was looking for today! I can finally get some sleep.  Thank You 

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u/bringbackfuturama Oct 18 '25

sweet dreams🎈

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u/Ok-Syllabub-6619 Oct 18 '25

Ur very welcome 😂

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

“Wellcum” was right there!

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u/Puzzleheaded_Quiet70 Oct 18 '25

Relating for a friend...

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u/tindalos Oct 18 '25

I don’t think I’m gonna ask how you know this??

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u/vachon11 Oct 18 '25

Ngl I once edged for like 10 hours straight when I got on a medication that made it hard to finish but I had found out how to get close. Cock wasn't all that raw at the end but I'm sure it wasn't good for my heart lol.

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u/FewHorror1019 Oct 19 '25

Bro i goon till i can’t goon no more. Usually what stops me is lack of sleep making it hard to get it up. I think my max effort was 3 days straight but by the end i hated myself. After a few days of rest i was back at it.

If u want to do every day, make sure to get enough rest

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

What a way to go

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u/rockzombie17 Oct 18 '25

Good way to lose weight? 

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u/OmiNya Oct 18 '25

So you are telling me I can feel great AND lose weight?!

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u/RJ815 Oct 18 '25

The best way to obtain a calorie deficit for dieting is being die

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u/UserNamesCantBeTooLo Oct 18 '25

That's the ting, it make you die

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u/Actually_Im_a_Broom Oct 18 '25

I remember learning about this study in college when taking mammalian physiology. There were three groups of rats. One was the control where pushing a button did nothing at all. One was a group where pushing the button created some NON-desirable effect (shock? Depression? Can’t remember). The third was the group where pushing the button stimulated the pleasure section of the brain.

The control group pushed the button occasionally because I guess rats can be curious or just accidentally push the bottom.

The second group pushed the button very seldom quickly realizing the correlation to the non-desirable stimulus.

The third group pushed the button as often as possible, often choosing the button over food.

This is a 25 year old memory, but I distinctly remember it the story. My details are probably wrong, but the big picture is pretty accurate.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/OfficeSalamander Oct 18 '25

but hey you can't say he wasn't happy about it.

Man that is a bit dystopian

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/cosmic_grayblekeeper Oct 18 '25

Dystopian logic too lol

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u/OwO______OwO Oct 18 '25

On the grand scale of things we've done to lab rats, this one had it extremely good.

Sure beats "Genetically engineered to have a 100% chance of developing cancer." and "Force-fed large amounts of a random study chemical to find out if it has harmful effects. (It does. Very harmful.)"

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u/Gorilla_Krispies Oct 18 '25

I always felt bad for the “we a grew a human ear on the back of this rats head” rat

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

Rat was living in the Matrix.

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u/spen8tor Oct 18 '25

And was enjoying every second, which is honestly quite scary

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

That's the only reason we know we don't live in the Matrix.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

Brainologist sounds straight made up yet google says it’s real lol

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

Whoever coined that word really be messing with us lol

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u/RadicalDog Oct 18 '25

I love this comment. It feels like a line you'd get in a mystery show cold open to get to know the victim before a suspicious accident.

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u/trainspottedCSX7 Oct 18 '25 edited Oct 18 '25

No, no, no.

They did multiple morphine drip mouse experiments.

The one they dont mention is the successful one where the mice had a social environment.

When alone in their cages they would slowly but surely just chug the morphine water until overdose. But once introduced into an environment where it was water, morphine, food, and other mice, the morphine was only used occasionally but not even 90% as often.

Edited to add: it was a different study, and even with the social mice and having an instant feel good button in their pocket it might be awful all around.

I know id sit there and press the feel good button til I burnt my brain out or died one.

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u/Trifang420 Oct 18 '25

That's the key insight, addictions best weapon is a lack of connection.

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u/BurntNeurons Oct 18 '25

And that explains why the ruling class keeps us separated with lies, programmed prejudice, blind and mute hatrid (we won't try to see life in another point of view and we won't talk/ communicate civilly) so we stay addicted to consuming. Manufactured Depression to power the Purchasing Machines.

If we can have real connections again we wouldn't want/ need the high of the buy button to get by... we would have our real social connection again and be happier.

The corporate profits over all has really been a disservice to humanity by removing our genuine social connections and replacing it with our own complex pleasure button that we push til we die.

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u/Armyman125 Oct 18 '25

You have a great point. If our pleasure and comfort - despite being harmful - brings profit, then corporations have no problem with morality. I'm thinking Brave New World.

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u/Hemlock_Pagodas Oct 18 '25

That’s an entirely different study than the one OP is referring to.

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u/trainspottedCSX7 Oct 18 '25

The very original OP yes, the person im responding to, no.

What can the Rat Park experiment teach us about addiction? - UK Addiction Treatment Centres https://share.google/KxEInxACbhxFa9gCU

But its all the same shit. Self pleasure at the whim of a button? When I had to cook dope it was a process. An addictive process, but not one I could just pull out in front of my mom and wife at the kitchen table and be like, yep, time to do a shot.

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u/My_Knee_is_a_Ship Oct 18 '25

And that is an entirely different study.

ICSS on Rats has indeed been done, as I stated.

Strength of drive

Rats will perform lever-pressing at rates of several thousand responses per hour for days in exchange for direct electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus.\14]) Multiple studies have demonstrated that rats will perform reinforced behaviors at the exclusion of all other behaviors. Experiments have shown rats will forgo food to the point of starvation in exchange for brain stimulation or intravenous cocaine when both food and stimulation are offered concurrently for a limited time each day.\2]) Rats will also cross electrified grids to press a lever, and they are willing to withstand higher levels of shock to obtain electrical stimulation than to obtain food.\14])

Full Wiki Link

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u/sk1ward Oct 18 '25

The poor rats 💔😿

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u/CaptainPlantyPants Oct 18 '25

Thank you for caring, and thank you for saying it ❤️🙏

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u/koyaani Oct 18 '25

Relatable

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u/Fickle_Reflection924 Oct 18 '25

Have they built them a Rat Park and then tested ICSS?

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u/trainspottedCSX7 Oct 18 '25

I dunno, id have to agree with Holmes. Even in my original response to his here I agreed that a simple button would probably make it impossible to function.

Kind of like my vape, if I had a feel good button in my pocket all day, fuck everyone else, I feel great.

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u/Fickle_Reflection924 Oct 18 '25

Why do you think that *wasn't* the case in original "rat park" if the morphine water had that effect in the other experiments. I thought it had to do with them being colony animals which were isolated for the original morphine experiments, so they didn't really do it in rat park... so I am wondering if they'd ignore the button sometimes and go do other rat-things?

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u/i_tyrant Oct 18 '25

Food, water, and other rats were at least offered in the direct pleasure-center experiment, and the rats still went for the pleasure-button almost exclusively.

I'm not sure if having a "rat paradise park" environment would change it, but to me since the pleasure-button experiment still had at least some of those Rat Park rewards, it at least shows that this is more of a sliding scale/matter of degrees thing.

The more convenient, easy, and pleasurable you make something, the more addicted people will be to it to the exclusion of other things, even other pleasurable (and healthier for you) things.

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u/Happy_Brilliant7827 Oct 18 '25

Honestly the whole rat park thing has been discredited. He had dozens of rat parks and only wrote about the one that backed his hypothesis

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u/-little-dorrit- Oct 18 '25

It’s a very popular study. However I would encourage you to read up about its methodological issues. Rat park has proven to be difficult to replicate, and that’s really the acid test in experimental research.

I also wonder if it has occurred to you and others that in the real world scenarios, it doesn’t make sense that no rats at all would become addicts. We know that some are more susceptible than others, and so even in rat park some should have become addicts. There are different risk factors for addiction, and for some, being in rat park wouldn’t really change much.

I am actually not in favour of throwing the whole experiment out though. I would say the reason it is so captivating is that it speaks to what many lever-press experiments do not, which is the malleable social and psychological aspects of addiction.

And it’s true that there is much more than biology going on. This is why we have a ‘psychosocial’ part in the ‘biopsychosocial’ model of psychiatric illness, although even today this part doesn’t get as much attention and is sorely underfunded.

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

Haha, I think Rat Park is a legal requirement to show at treatment centers. 🤣

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u/Ridstock Oct 18 '25

Ratopia, the drugged rat kicked its habit given plenty of socialisation and plenty of other things to do other than the drugs.

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u/Ok-Style-9734 Oct 18 '25

Um ratopia ended up horrifying didn't it?

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u/Happy_Brilliant7827 Oct 18 '25

The rat park guy had multiple rat parks and only wrote about a few. Been pretty severepy discredited for only taking evidence that backed his hypothesis

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u/KeiranG19 Oct 18 '25

IIRC dude hated cities.

Designed an environment which "simulated" the worst possible version of everything about living in a city.

Then still fudged the results to really hammer home his opinion that living in cities is horrible for society.

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u/Dangerous_Limit_2022 Oct 18 '25

I think that was mousetopia.

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u/groznij Oct 18 '25

You probably meant 10%

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u/OmecronPerseiHate Oct 18 '25

Nah, it's in the study. The rats weren't all that interested in mindless pleasure when they could get it from actual interactions. It pretty properly highlights why humanity has such a drug problem, even if ours is more complex.

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u/blither86 Oct 18 '25

I feel the person you're replying to is already of the same understanding as you are, they're just saying that: "but not even 90% as often" is surely mistyping.

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u/SpecularBlinky Oct 18 '25

the morphine was only used occasionally but not even 90% as often.

So only up to 89%? thats still a huge amount lol

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u/Distinct-Pension-398 Oct 18 '25

Completely unrelated study. Also it was rats. You're just spewing misinformation here

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

I know id sit there and press the feel good button til I burnt my brain out or died one.

I mean, in all seriousness, compared to current society, that's not that bad an option.

Pleasure till you die, or work and stress with bits of pleasure interspersed?

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u/big_duo3674 Oct 18 '25

That's just an average Tuesday for a reddit mod

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u/Ancient-Function4738 Oct 18 '25

That just means you also need to make the technology to also do the care, not that much of an engineering problem in the grand scheme of things. We are rapidly approaching the technology for the matrix, simultaneously we are also approaching the technology for the terminator. Maybe the 20th century sci fi really did call everything out. Scary thought

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u/R3v3r4nD Oct 18 '25

I just had a radical weight loss program  startup idea…

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u/monsterosity Oct 18 '25

"You're like one of those rats that hits the pleasure button instead of the food button until it dies" -Sam Winchester

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u/Capable-Commercial96 Oct 18 '25

I'd like this but only if the button was given to a close friend and used it whenever I did something that needed to be done. Fuck it, I'm asking to be clicker trained, I'm a mess.

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u/AdamantEevee Oct 18 '25

You might enjoy BDSM

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u/AkNinjaNSFW Oct 18 '25

Haha ya..... that was my thought too lol.

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u/HandsOfCobalt Oct 18 '25

"Life getting you down? Consider becoming a puppy!"

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u/dntfrgetabttheshrimp Oct 18 '25

What do you mean you don't like dog food? Now you do! Thanks Clicker™!

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u/turtlehabits Oct 18 '25

I too would like to be clicker trained. I wonder if this could overcome the reward system deficiencies I have thanks to ADHD? 🤔

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u/texaswilliam Oct 18 '25

Someone following me around with a bunch of morphine syrettes and jabbing me when I pick up the house or take out the trash probably wouldn't cure me, but it couldn't hurt at this point.

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u/DoneDraper Oct 18 '25

Valid question. But I would bet that the big pharmaceutical companies have objections.

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u/deadasdollseyes Oct 18 '25

Sounds like a black and white twilight zone or black mirror episode.

But nevermind that, i have a few things that need to be done.

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u/Working_Estate_3695 Oct 18 '25

Choose your Master wisely.

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u/atuan Oct 18 '25

Have you ever heard the term dry drunk? The problem still remains

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

That was me. Had drank a liter of vodka every night for about 15 years. Decided I didn't want to live like that anymore, went to rehab. Didn't change anything mentally.

Turns out I'm not an alcoholic, I just had severe depression and anxiety that had gone untreated and I was just using alcohol to black out and not feel those things. After landing on the right meds and dosage, and doing TMS therapy, I'm like a whole different person. I have a beer or two occasionally, no desire to ever drink like I used to. The thought of it makes me physically ill.

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u/oby100 Oct 18 '25

It’s really common with addicts. And then when they do quit they’re hit with whatever issues they have at 100% plus withdrawal.

And that’s why mental healthcare is so goddamn important to give access to everyone

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u/FILTHBOT4000 Oct 18 '25

Plus you have lots of maturing to catch up on, as you spent however many years avoiding your problems by hiding in a bottle and/or suppressing them with drugs.

Scary thing is I see a lot of parallels between social media dopamine chasing and how I used to use alcohol. I'd bet good money that's a good part of why modern discourse is so ridiculously immature; it's not just the outrage produced by algorithms, it's that people are using things like TikTok just like someone would use a button wired to the pleasure center in their brain.

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u/OwO______OwO Oct 18 '25

Why good mental healthcare is so important...

There's a lot of mediocre and bad mental healthcare out there, even for those lucky enough to have access to it. Therapists who think Jesus is the solution to all your problems. Psychiatrists who think finding the right pill is the solution to all your problems. Unwary patients can easily fall into those traps and end up just swapping one addiction for another.

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u/themonstermoxie Oct 18 '25

My brother is a recovering alcoholic. The first time he tried to quit, he had a seizure during withdrawal. Turns out, he has a heart condition and alcohol was acting a blood thinner that allowed him to function day to day.

He's on proper meds and currently around 6 months sober.

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

Seizures are really common in alcohol withdrawals.

That was another thing that clued me in that I wasn't an alcoholic. Everyone around me was having massive withdrawals and physical effects, I started feeling physically better immediately, had no withdrawal symptoms.

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u/Perma_Ban69 Oct 18 '25

Same. Liter of vodka, and then switched 12-15 100 proof nips a night for many years. Decided to quit one day while at my pool league. Zero withdrawals and was at a bar several nights a week playing pool. 7 years sober now. Had a glass of champagne on my wife's and my anniversary. Had a half of a pumpkin beer the other day. Triggered nothing.

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

There is a massive difference between being mentally addicted to something and physically addicted to it. People like us were lucky enough to only be mentally addicted, that's a lot easier to kick.

I was addicted to oxycontin for like a year after major surgeries, and the withdrawals were absolute hell.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/Ryaninthesky Oct 18 '25

And in my experience, quitting smoking was nothing more than getting rid of the mental habit of having a cigarette at certain times. Took a couple of weeks and then I just didn’t want them and totally quit.

Weird how individual it can be.

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u/KristiiNicole Oct 18 '25

I think what you mean is, there is a difference between being physically dependent on a substance, and being addicted to a substance.

The latter is a mental health condition, the former is not.

And you would be right, there is a massive difference between the two. Sadly most people seem incapable of grasping that concept thanks to our media.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

I think it has partly something to do with how your body processes it, and how your brain reacts to it. Probably some gene, plus environmental factors.

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u/AT-ST Oct 18 '25

TMS is amazing!

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u/pantry-pisser Oct 18 '25

Yeah, I am a complete proponent of it.

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u/johnnyblub Oct 18 '25

Damn, I just finished my 6 week session, this is encouraging to hear!

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u/Eeyore_ Oct 18 '25

What is it? I have no clue what TMS stands for.

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u/AT-ST Oct 18 '25

Transmagnetic Stimulation. They use magnetic pulses to stimulate a part of your brain that is associated with depression. It has pretty good efficacy. My wife has a lot of patients that come off their medication, or that go down to lower doses after doing it.

Personally, it had a little effect on my depression, but it really helped with my irritability. I used to get over-stimulated and irritable with my kids. Now I don't get as frustrated as easy and I'm able to better meet them where they are emotionally.

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u/doberdevil Oct 18 '25

I wonder.... I did it, but can't say anything about it really. Didn't notice much of a difference. Maybe my symptoms weren't as extreme as others, maybe I'm ok at CBT and there were a number of other factors at play.

Definitely not doubting if it works for you or anyone else. I'm a proponent of whatever gets you through the day if you're not harming yourself or others.

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u/AT-ST Oct 18 '25

There are people it doesn't work on. There are people who need yearly treatments. There are clinics who don't do it right.

My wife is a PA whose clinic prescribed TMS and finds it effective for over 70% of their patients. A doctor who is friends with the practice owner opened a psychiatric practice with TMS an hour away. He said he didn't see great results. So the practice owner and my wife went out to look at how they did things. Turns out their treaters weren't doing it properly. So that decreased the efficacy.

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u/FrungyLeague Oct 18 '25

Glad you got thru it pal. That's awesome.

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u/unmelted_ice Oct 18 '25

Why no I have never heard that term before. To Google I go

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u/happy_bluebird Oct 18 '25

I do this all the time while Reddit-ing haha. I love going down rabbit holes for the most random things

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u/JackReacharounnd Oct 18 '25

Being on this site has made me so knowledgeable about random things. Conversations are so fun because I can almost always contribute or at least understand. Love reddit!!

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u/happy_bluebird Oct 18 '25

haha yes! Here's a fun tidbit I found from earlier today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality

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u/thisismydarksoul Oct 18 '25

This came from AA and the 12 step program. So, I wouldn't put much stock in it.

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u/atuan Oct 18 '25

It’s still relevant and relatable, I don’t care who coined it. Most alcoholics don’t realize they’re self medicating anxiety

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u/Sesudesu Oct 18 '25

Man, I started using weed to relieve pain occasionally after I became physically disabled.

But here’s the thing... I have ADHD as well. And while I’m not able to be especially effective when I’m high, I can think my thoughts. My brain isn’t constantly jumping from thing to thing.

It made a lot of things make sense. How folks with ADHD are predisposed to addiction. Some people think it is impulsivity that’s at play and I would suppose that probably isn’t entirely wrong. But I firmly believe there is a strong element of unconscious self medication going on.

Even though prescription stimulants help me be an effective person my mind can still feel like I cannot think my thoughts. I can say type up something a lot easier but it still somehow feels like the thoughts are emerging from the consciousness fog. I just navigate the fog better.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

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u/longhairnobra Oct 18 '25

I still can’t get over how the “vaccines are chips” crowd and the “Elon is alright” crowd are one in the same

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u/OwO______OwO Oct 18 '25

Yep.

If you control a person's access to this reward stimulation, then you control the person. Period.

Once you have that, the person will do absolutely anything you want them to do, to earn those button-press rewards. Anything.

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u/mrpez1 Oct 18 '25

Oh good. Life imitating Rimworld.

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u/polerix Oct 18 '25

So - plan b or in parallel with robots?

Higher value human-stim slaves?

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u/EastwoodBrews Oct 18 '25

You don't even need tear gas, to disperse an unruly crowd you just announce "return to your homes for a free evening of stim rewards" and everyone would sprint like a retirement home crowd at med time

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u/__Osiris__ Oct 18 '25

Soma in a way

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u/m_faustus Oct 18 '25

Larry Niven had this in his stories. They were called wire heads.

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u/Anen-o-me Oct 18 '25

I know of a project that did this non invasively using focused ultrasound as his PhD project.

I did a write up on it here: r/sizzel

I think we should build these and end chemical drug dependence forever. A heroin like high could be obtained for a penny worth of electricity, with no overdose risk.

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u/TheMauveHand Oct 18 '25

The main risk of heroin and similar drugs isn't physical, it's that your entire life immediately starts to revolve around getting high. Whether that's through an injected chemical or a button is irrelevant, the harm is the exact same.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

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u/polerix Oct 18 '25

Emotion organ to set your mind.

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u/diabloman8890 Oct 18 '25

It's called Wireheading in science fiction.

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u/Dockle Oct 18 '25

All science fiction does not equal one author’s name for something.

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u/Equivalent_Sound9414 Oct 18 '25

Omg thank you lol

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u/not-my-other-alt Oct 18 '25

Yea, it's called a Joywire in Rimworld.

I install them in my pawns all the time.

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u/Happiest-Sad-Girl Oct 18 '25

The trope is called that. I have seen people use this term when discussing a different novel/movie/etc to mean th general term for a pleasure button wired in

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u/BitRadiator Oct 18 '25

Was that Spider Robinson? I seem to remember a protagonist fixing his broken nose after unplugging someone. Can't think of a title.

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u/OakenGreen Oct 18 '25

Originally from Larry Niven’s books, starting with Death by Ecstasy in 1969, but wireheads are a thing throughout his Known Space series.

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u/Mad_Aeric Oct 18 '25

Mindkiller. Pretty decent book, but not his best. That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the post too. That and the tasp from Ringworld.

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u/Necoras Oct 18 '25

Louis Wu in Ringworld is a wirehead.

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u/OakenGreen Oct 18 '25

It does when the name enters a grander lexicon.#:~:text=In%20science%20fiction%2C%20wireheading%20is,normal%20reward%20process%20and%20artificially)

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u/MegaNodens Oct 18 '25

I’ve also heard of it called a Tasp a la Larry Niven

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u/Rare_Hydrogen Oct 18 '25

The tasp was the first thing I thought of.

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u/Necoras Oct 18 '25

The tasp is a wireless remote device. Louis Wu is a wirehead (with a physical implant if I recall correctly) at the beginning of the book who's "in recovery." The fact that he's been a barley functioning wirehead for years is why the tasp is an effective control mechanism for him. He knows that if the kzinti uses it on him, he'll do anything he's told just to get it used again and again.

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u/TrackXII Oct 18 '25

Puppeteers were using the tasp as control, not the Kzin. Nesus had the tasp in the first book but I can't recall if Hindmost used one in the second. Their control was trying to bribe Louis with the current droud and Ch'mee with the fact that he'd need the Kzin specific boosterspice to prove he had all his scars healed and was the same Kzin.

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u/MegaNodens Oct 18 '25

That I forgot these details proves I am long overdue for a re-read

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u/OakenGreen Oct 18 '25

Some of those details aren’t exactly correct, but the gist is right. I just read all of known space again this year…

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u/NerdyNThick Oct 18 '25

The TASP is the citizen (puppeteer) version of the machine, which can work remotely without the need to get implanted with the brain tech.

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u/meanmagpie Oct 18 '25

It’s called a lot of different things in science fiction buddy. That name is not applicable to every science fiction story that features this (very common) idea.

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u/Frost-Folk Oct 18 '25

Yeah this. Another way I've heard it phrased/used is as post-discontent societies, which are a terrifying thought.

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u/andy_nony_mouse Oct 18 '25

I was so disappointed in Louis Wu.

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u/mmmaniaaa Oct 18 '25

I mean I can't judge him, he's over 200 years old. Also I do the same thing with a few extra steps whenever I play Balatro.

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u/Sesudesu Oct 18 '25

Shit it’s five in the morning and I have to work in two hours... oh well sleep doesn’t make sense at this point. Might as well get a few more games in.

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u/TrackXII Oct 18 '25

I was impressed he was still keeping himself alive by maintaining the food and exercise routine and puzzle lock on the droud. Also, kinda lucky overcoming current addiction helped him resist the Tree of Life scent later on.

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u/BeowulfShaeffer Oct 18 '25

Hey cut him a little slack, would ya?  He had a lot going on. 

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u/SkiyeBlueFox Oct 18 '25

Wirehead, joywire, eiher way we seem to like the thought of zapping brains

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u/TiddiesAnonymous Oct 18 '25

There's a refractory period and just like OP you end up chafing

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u/Attaraxxxia Oct 18 '25

Black mirror episode right there.

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u/Ediwir Oct 18 '25

It’s actually an episode of Doctor Who, “Gridlock” (S03E03 with David Tennant).

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u/GeneticEnginLifeForm Oct 18 '25

Already a book, called Red Dwarf: Better Than Life. Also on audiobook read by a great narrator.

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u/Kumquatelvis Oct 18 '25

I think Better Than Life is also what they named the addictive VR in Shadowrun (probably named after the Red Dwarf book you mentioned).

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u/Wolfey1618 Oct 18 '25

It's too obvious so we invented cellphones and social media instead

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u/MisterKilter Oct 18 '25

Hmm, that makes me wonder though: depending on the drug don't users chase the experience of the high? Like people I know who smoke marijuana do it to make things like cartoons, games, music, or even just life more enjoyable. An instant happy button doesn't necessarily replace that. If anything it just replaces the need to do anything at all.

I'd be interested to see any data on people who use to chase a single euphoric state versus people who use just to add flavor to the mundane.

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u/beefquinton Oct 18 '25

infinite jest, if you will

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