There's a vodka that currently exist named Blue Sky (thank Youtube ads for that tidbit).
..Huh, and here I was referencing the type of methamphetamine.
Kids, reproduction, having sex?
I've already explained why sex is pointless and inefficient, kids can be created artificially.
Although, I'm really primarily arguing for being botted while serving as an ARM operative. If you're naive enough to believe that Steve will let you live afterward, you're naive enough to believe that you'll get a flesh body if you want. The other option is to raise a child on the Sword, and frankly there's far more efficient methods of child abuse.
Even if we disregard the second part, there is still the possibility it doesn't pan out. Maybe if one of your life goals is to accomplish something big long-term, but you don't achieve it due to always going for the short-term pleasure, then over time that displeasure/disappointment in yourself might 'overpower' the positive stimulus of the pleasure center activation. That said, this banks on the idea of other sources being able to directly overrule direct pleasure center stimulation, and I don't know enough about brain chemistry to assert this idea's plausibility.
I don't really know enough either, but I'm gonna guess that other sources can't overrule the pleasure center, because I don't feel bad about things when I'm happy. At most, I feel bad enough beforehand that I can't enjoy whatever makes me happy, but I think that's more a case of the pleasure center being blocked/deciding not to fire, rather than stopped.
Though, if your mastery of brain processes is even high enough, even if the above is the case, you might be able to disable whatever causes the displeasure. For the individual however, there's a risk: before we know all of the centers that you need to activate or disable to achieve permanent euphoria, you will need test subjects. If the above scenario plays out, these initial test subjects might go into a living hell after the initial euphoria. So for the individual, it's most logical to wait until the technology is perfected (assuming that's even possible). But if everybody did the most logical thing, the technology can't be perfected!
The nice thing is, if everyone were perfectly logical we'd all either be sociopaths (if logic is completely selfish) or live in a utopia (if logic is utilitarian). In the former case, maximal happiness tech is irrelevant because everyone's evil anyway, and in the latter case, it's irrelevant because it's unnecessary (although you could get volunteers easily enough).
In the real world, there's way, way, way more stupid people who would do the illogical thing and accept the treatment when it's still risky. Also, we don't have to be perfectly moral in the real world and can force people to test it.
Shock implants? Isn't that exactly what those are for?
Even the lowly mesor blocked those, for an entirely legitimate reason. Even if PW said that the implants can't be jammed because he says so, someone could carve it out while something is happening on-ship that would prevent Steve from noticing (unless PW restricted himself from doing such events).
Also, Grate-3
2 would have killed us all. Or at least the ones who were already alive.
The AM isn't super strong to prevent people messing around, though. She's super strong to avoid dying to the Lord British Postulate. We'd just kill her if she were killable, and she's actually plot important, so PW can't have that.
@Dorsi (Not sure what to quote >.<)
Kinetic amps have an upper limit on what they can do. Even if they didn't, Heph wouldn't make a
3 kinetic amp, because you can already get one by stacking two normal amps, and because it would be so powerful that it would kill the user.
Also, this is type of thing that PW sees and responds to by naming a thread after your char's death warrant. Fair warning.