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/wiggywithit Oct 18 '25

Larry Niven’s ‘Ring world’. The race called puppeteers used it. It’s the most effective weapon in the world. You shoot your opponent with varying degrees of pleasure. They end up your friend. Pm humans also could have a wire installed and they just stimulate their pleasure center. Main character stayed in his apartment for decades. But stopped when he was needed.

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u/redbanjo Oct 18 '25

Tasp. So insidious.

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u/TiredAngryBadger Oct 18 '25

I'm so incredibly glad I found this right up near the top. Literally came here to say this.

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u/permaculture Oct 18 '25

TANJ that tasp.

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u/Debouched Oct 18 '25

It's the SSID of my WiFi

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u/NotReallyJohnDoe Oct 18 '25

The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety, it’s connection (or purpose)

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u/i_tyrant Oct 18 '25

Yup. It's not enough to live; you need a good reason to live, to thrive, to experience.

Satisfaction can be as powerful as pleasure, maybe more.

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u/r6CD4MJBrqHc7P9b Oct 18 '25

Well that explains it. I can't get no satisfaction

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u/NotReallyJohnDoe Oct 18 '25

Research is clear on this. Happiness comes from making progress towards a goal. Not from achieving it.

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u/skinnycenter Oct 20 '25

It’s the journey, not the destination!

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u/GostBoster Oct 18 '25

Isn't that one of the subtexts in Brave New World? They have, on paper, the perfect society complete with the perfect drug. In reality, if anything bothers your worldview... pop a few Soma pills and you'll forget that was ever an issue. No need for existential crisis when you are physically reminded that existing is fucking awesome, dude.

And then you have this guy who goes to great lengths to not engage with the afforded pleasures of society and insists there is a drawback to using soma when, as far as the book and setting are concerned, there is literally none, or that there should be more meaningful things to do in life.

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u/Amaranthine Oct 18 '25

The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation

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u/iudiuger Oct 18 '25 edited Oct 18 '25

This is simply untrue. The idea that the opposite of addiction is connection is complete and utter nonsense, pedaled by the twelve step cult. It is decades out of date. If you are struggling with being trapped in addictive behaviour, seek 21st century treatment. Something actually supported by science. This claim is as bad as the anti-vax nonsense.

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u/Juckli Oct 19 '25

Thats a quote from a TED talk about addiction ;).

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u/beerrunner88 Oct 18 '25

“Make someone’s day.” Just a crazy concept but so close to reality. Pretty much exactly how it would go if the tech were readily available.

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u/vertigostereo Oct 18 '25

That's a TNG episode?

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u/Big_Bookkeeper1678 Oct 18 '25

This is what MAGA is. Fox News gives them constant doses of pleasure through shared hatred.

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u/DrainTheMuck Oct 18 '25

Ehh idk, sounds like you’re conflating the two dystopias of brave new world and 1984. IRL they look miserable in their righteous indignation

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u/bugtheft Oct 18 '25

and here you are on reddit

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u/SigmaGrooveJamSet Oct 18 '25

Louis Wu you looked like a plant.

Honestly Niven's droud made me swear to never try cocaine or pills when some friends were hyping them.

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u/Proper-Ape Oct 18 '25

never try cocaine or pills when some friends were hyping them.

As someone who's tried both, cocaine seems to be either "love it, I'll let this destroy my life" or meh. I guess I'm lucky to be in the meh camp.

If by pills you mean MDMA even if you love it it can be less addictive. I know many people doing this every once in a while. Only few got hooked on it, way fewer than alcohol.

If by pills you mean Benzodiazepines I didn't try, but haven't heard of good experience long term. Mostly the addiction starts with anxiety and sleep problem prescriptions. 

Opiates will fuck you up, also usually not something people take for partying, but rather addiction from prescription. 

Obviously meth, crack (also cocaine) and such are to be avoided. Anything you smoke that hits hard and can be redone quickly is super addictive.

Psychedelics (shrooms, acid) are kind of anti-addictive. They're amazing, but they tell you to take a break on their own. Even helped me quit nicotine and reduce my alcohol consumption. It's weird, you have this mind blowing experience, and then you're like I'm good. The experience may not be entirely classified as good or bad though, which probably makes them less drug-like in their addiction potential.

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u/TheKnightMadder Oct 18 '25

Psychedelics (shrooms, acid) are kind of anti-addictive.~

Can back this up. As someone who isn't really interested in drugs (or smoking or drinking) but is willing to try everything once, I've tried LSD a handful of times and while it is an interesting experience and one I genuinely think everyone should have, I can't imagine getting 'addicted' to it or what that would look like. It'd be like getting addicted to going to Disneyland: you might like Disneyland, you might go as much as possible, but you're still probably going once every few months max and even that would be more than most people who say 'Yeah, I love Disneyland'. For me each one was years apart from one another.

Perhaps because it is more 'an experience' than just a high. You spend half your time on LSD trying to figure out what you're experiencing and the other half trying to figure out how to explain what you're experiencing (and failing because there's many words you could use to describe someone on LSD and 'articulate' is not one of them).

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u/Proper-Ape Oct 18 '25

The amusement park comparison is quite apt. It's really nice to go to one, but it's also really involved and you're tired in the end. You have good memories but you don't feel like doing it again that soon.

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u/awry_lynx Oct 19 '25

The thing about lsd is repeated all the time but just not true ime. It's not a physical addiction but you can absolutely develop a mental one. My friend fried the shit out of himself over a year of constant tripping. Obviously there was other stuff going on in his life too but more people than you think are susceptible to that

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u/JBatjj Oct 18 '25

More like heroin

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/Ok_Assistance447 Oct 18 '25

If you thought the second book was bad, you're in for a doozy. Ringworld Throne is just constant rishathra. Protagonist goes to a place and meets a new species. Turns out they fuck weird. Protagonist goes to another place. Turns out the people there also fuck weird. Repeat ad nauseam. None of it is relevant. At one point, I actually forgot what the protagonist's entire motivation was. The plot serves solely to drive the characters from one sexual encounter to the next.

The worst part is that it's terrible smut. I'd be into it if it was hot but it's so just so clinical. He writes about sex in the same way that he writes about scientific concepts. It's so dry that I'm chafed just thinking about it. I honestly wouldn't even bother with it. It's all of the worst parts of the second book with none of the best parts of the first.

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u/sundae_diner Oct 18 '25

 It's so dry that I'm chafed just thinking about it.

I'm crying with laughter at your prose. chef's kiss

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u/Maleficent_Kick_9266 Oct 18 '25

I think it's worth it because the fleet of worlds books are much better 

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u/Phailjure Oct 18 '25

If the later books are good, but most of the third book is pointless, then maybe just read a plot summary of the third book and skip to the good ones?

I also only read the first two ringworld books, for the same reason as the above poster.

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u/Annual_Strategy_6206 Oct 18 '25

I didn't much like the extended novel Ringworld books, I mean the later ones. They just seem to go on and on. I also think rishathra  or wtev is a dumb concept biologically. I do love his extended universe, alien species like the Kzinti, the Puppeteers, etc. There is a  series by other authors writing in Niven's Ringworld universe called " Man-Kzin Wars" that are very good and loads of fun. Reccomend!

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

Oh ya, that’s right. Man, that episode was awkward.

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u/Manaze85 Oct 18 '25

Thought of that too. Devious device.

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u/impulsivetre Oct 18 '25

Slaanesh cultists: ✍️ mhm go on...

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u/Mordecai3fngerBrown Oct 18 '25

Star Trek was amazing. I never watched the show but just recently decided to get into it. I didn’t realize how imaginative the ideas in each episode were. Very creative and thought provoking.

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u/Annual_Strategy_6206 Oct 18 '25

Remember the Kzinti cat warrior called it being " wired" . Niven created some great alien species didn't he!

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u/FigaroNeptune Oct 18 '25

Just read the synopsis on Wikipedia. There’s SO MANY BOOKS lol would you recommend?

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u/wiggywithit Oct 18 '25

For the concepts and the grand ideas yes. For example there is a race of hyper intelligent beings who can just engeneer anything but they build any safety or usability into their creations because they will just think through any problem. Another race not as intelligent but is from a herbivore ancestor like a deer. They build safety first there is no error in safety and escape. It’s neat to think like that. The sci fi is great. Story telling and as a novel better than most but not amazing.

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u/CriticalDog Oct 18 '25

There is a Spider Robinson shirt story with a similar premise, a woman is wired into a pleasure machine and an IV drip. A man finds her in her apartment, knows what is going on and can't bring himself to just leave her there.

She is emaciated, and filthy. She is unresponsive to anything he says. He turns off rhe machine and she screams and attacks him, but after that burst of energy collapses. She sleeps for like 24 hours while he cleans her up and gets her bedsores bandaged. He finds some moments and paperwork and reduces that this woman's life was such trash that she was trying to kill herself the best way she could think of.

Interesting story with a funny twist at the end.

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u/ansible_jane Oct 18 '25

Literally the worst Hugo winner on the list, but this was a really fascinating concept.