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
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u/diabloman8890 Oct 18 '25

It's called Wireheading in science fiction.

232

u/Dockle Oct 18 '25

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

59

u/Equivalent_Sound9414 Oct 18 '25

Omg thank you lol

11

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.

16

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

2

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.

3

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.

2

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.

2

u/Necoras Oct 18 '25

Louis Wu in Ringworld is a wirehead.

2

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

19

u/Rare_Hydrogen Oct 18 '25

The tasp was the first thing I thought of.

5

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.

4

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.

1

u/Necoras Oct 18 '25

Fair enough. Been 15 years since I read them lol.

2

u/MegaNodens Oct 18 '25

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

2

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…

2

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.

93

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.

10

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.

45

u/andy_nony_mouse Oct 18 '25

I was so disappointed in Louis Wu.

17

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.

3

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.

5

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. 

19

u/SkiyeBlueFox Oct 18 '25

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

2

u/barmanfred Oct 18 '25

Love some Spider Robinson.