Prof. Stefano Gualeni gave talks at two major Swedish Universities - University of Gothenburg and University of Skovde - this February. Prof. Gualeni is a visiting professor at the Centre for the Digital Humanities of the University of Gothenburg and during his visit in February he also presented on the contents of a recent book chapter of his entitled 'Experience machines'.
In ‘The Experience Machine’ thought experiment, American philosopher Robert Nozick challenges us to envision the possibility of having access to a technology that could indefinitely supplant our everyday lifeworld with a virtual one designed to maximize our pleasure and satisfaction. By presenting us with that possibility, Nozick invited us to question whether the way we live our lives is solely driven by the pleasure principle or if there is something else that we value about our actual existence other than how we feel ‘from the inside’. Stefano explores this premise in his talk from the perspective of interactions with the virtual world, such as these exist in games, for example. The 'Experience Machines' talk is available on the University of Gothenburg's website.
University of Skovde and the Institute of Digital Games are also connected by a few international projects on which they collaborate since 2016.