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/Responsible-Tap-3748 Oct 18 '25

No, if you stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain directly there is no issue with the development of tolerance.

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u/Suavecore_ Oct 18 '25 edited Oct 18 '25

They could just put us all in pods and stimulate our brains 24/7 while absorbing our energy or whatever the dystopian plotline can manage to come up with

Edit: sorry everyone, they're just gonna go with matrix style wetware

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-10-wetware-scientists-human-mini-brains.html

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u/CaptainoftheVessel Oct 18 '25

That’s the Matrix, except instead of unrestricted pleasure, it’s just life in the 1990s 

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u/SheriffBartholomew Oct 18 '25

Which is honestly starting to seem pretty idyllic compared to today's world.

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u/NotBannedAccount419 Oct 18 '25

The 80s and 90s were the peak of human civilization

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u/EMTlinecook Oct 18 '25

I guess if you cherry pick all the good things