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In another controversial experiment in 1972, Dr. Heath wired up a homosexual man’s pleasure centers in order to help him “cure” his homosexuality. During the initial three-hour session, subject “B-19″ stimulated himself some 1,500 times. Dr. Heath wrote of the experiment, “During these sessions, B-19 stimulated himself to a point that he was experiencing an almost overwhelming euphoria and elation, and had to be disconnected, despite his vigorous protests.” Since unnatural methods can bring about unnatural results, energizing the man’s electrodes as he looked at erotic pictures of women temporarily “cured” him of his homosexuality, but once the electrodes were removed, he went back to normal.
Today, medical technology allows such electrodes to be completely implanted into the human body, including a battery pack the size of a book of matches. But these are a rarity, used only in very specific and extreme cases. Not even victims of intractable neuropathic pain or depression are permitted to have their pleasure centers wired. Individuals with happiness deficits are instead treated with drugs, which are both more and less invasive, depending on how you look at it. Medications don’t involve holes drilled into the skull, but they do act upon the entire body, causing a host of unwanted chemical side-effects. Often they also result in a lifelong expense.
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