KD & The Experience Machine - a podcast by Jez F.M

Why is Kevin Durant currently not a Warrior? Why did he never seem fulfilled by the championships in the bay?

It may seem like a complicated question, but weirdly, I think philosophy has the answer. Take a listen to this little nugget of an episode to look at why I think Kevin Durant left the Warriors, and at a broader level, why player empowerment is bound to implode.

This episode features a look at Robert Nozick's "The Experience Machine" for those interested in further readings/Youtube holes to fall down.

Full Transcript:

The clock winds down. The buzzer sounds. You have just won your second NBA finals. You see LeBron and the Cavs, utterly defeated in five games, walk to their locker room, and you see a mass of people fill the floor to set up for the celebrations and trophy ceremony. Your team mates are holding you and jumping around screaming and smiling.



This should be the best moment of your life. But it's not.



Kevin Durant going to the Warriors is the perfect example of Robert Nozick's concept of the 'experience machine'. The idea of the experience machine is that you are told that you can have whatever life you want, you just have to experience it in a machine. Once you are in there, you won't know that you are in the machine. And everything will feel like it would in real life, only all the things that make life painful won't be in there.



The concept, which takes it root in trying to disprove hedonism as a viable approach to living one's life, is a powerful argument against a life of only pleasure. Nozick ultimately concludes that given the decision, no one would enter the experience machine, because living a life in a pod (no matter what you achieve therein) is far less satisfying than winning against the chaos of the real world.



I guess Nozick didn't expect Kevin Durant to come along.



The experience that KD had was a very clear cut version of this in real life. By leaving a team that was almost guaranteed to win the championship each year, he proved Nozick right; that simply having the experience isn't the same as earning the experience.



It would have been the same thing if MJ had of just joined the Monstars instead of beating them in Space Jam.



You see, not only did the Warriors win 2 championship rings with KD in tow, but they never really experienced hardship. They cruised through most rounds of the playoffs, and so really got to look at life inside the experience machine.



However, in contrast to KD being in the experience machine, there were 3 players on the team that were not in the experience machine. Draymond, Klay and Steph. They took the alternative route. They, by KD's side the entire time, were living the Experience machine life, but they didn't have to enter the machine. They had lived through losing, trials and tribulations as a group, and so earning their championships wasn't the experience machine. They really did it.



It's like hanging out with influencers that are famous for being themselves, and you bought all your followers. Sure, you might have the same amount of "followers" online, but something feels empty about you and not them.



So, in the end, why would KD leave?



Because you are there, holding the finals MVP trophy, big lights in your face. You look over and see Steph, Draymond and Klay holding each other and smiling. There is a joy and a deep brotherhood there. They are experiencing what you are supposed to be feeling. It's time to get out of the machine.

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