Comic #5858: pleasure

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Description

Here's the text from the comic:

Panel 1:
Person 1: "Suppose you could step inside a 'pleasure box' where you're constantly experiencing happiness. Would you choose that over real life?"
Person 2: "Obviously?"

Panel 2:
Person 1: "This whole problem is poorly defined. These philosophers always wink at the idea that the box is filled with, like, cheeseburgers and re-run sitcoms or something else that gives the riff-raff joy."

Panel 3:
Person 2: "Suppose we say 'The pleasure box is filled with brand new essays by Willard Quine forever. The box delivers perfect fidelity evenings debating with de Beauvoir, Hume, Kant, Plato. Voltaire is fixing snacks and Einstein, Godel, and Ramanujan are on deck for technical disputes.'"

Panel 4:
Person 1: "Either you have a piece of trash pleasure box that delivers a pantry of spray cheese and Godzilla movies or you have a good one that somehow simulates your brain and the brains of ideal companions perfectly forever!"

Panel 5:
Person 2: "Now, compare the evening with Plato and Einstein to your typical night at home."
Person 1: "Which is more 'real'?"

Panel 6:
Person 2: "I dunno. It seems wrong to me."

Panel 7:
Person 1: "You are in the cave! The pleasure box is the light!"

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This transcription captures the dialogue accurately for accessibility.