What I had originally thought of as an experience machine was drugs that would produce chemically equivalent reactions as those produced from our experiences.
Spiritual usually has an anthropomorphic meaning which is what I object to:
Defined as "of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things"
Maybe a better way of stating it is that I am not an empiricist that believes that sensory experience is the end-all be-all.
That's a better way of putting it, though what I was really getting at was that, whatever reason you have for believing in the importance non-empirical information, you could employ that same reasoning to believe in anything spiritual as well. If what you believe isn't supported by evidence, then a rational person has no reason to agree to it.
Don't underestimate how easy it is for a human brain to confuse wishful thinking with rational belief. I know what you are talking about -- a sense of objectivity -- but I see no reason to believe it is a valid point of view, rather than a pretense of human desire.
What I had originally thought of as an experience machine was drugs that would produce chemically equivalent reactions as those produced from our experiences.
Spiritual usually has an anthropomorphic meaning which is what I object to:
Defined as "of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things"
Maybe a better way of stating it is that I am not an empiricist that believes that sensory experience is the end-all be-all.