In Larry Niven’s "Known Space" series he refers to a device called a "tasp" that is used to electrically stimulate the pleasure center of someone’s brain. You point the tasp at the person (e.g., from a place of hiding) and activate it, causing the person to experience the most intense pleasure possible and thus "make their day." (It’s apparently common to do this in public parks in the 30th century.)
Unfortunately, people get addicted to this kind of pleasure and many go get a surgically-implanted version of the tasp known as a "droud" stuck in their heads.
They then act just like those mice whose pleasure centers we’ve wired so that the mice can get pleasure by pushing a lever. The mice thereafter won’t do anything but push the lever. It totally ruins their lives.
Droud-addicts or "wireheads" as they are known, are the same. Niven’s hero Louis Wu, who for a time in his life is a wirehead, has to have his droud set up with a timer so complicated that he can’t simply reactive the droud. He thus gets a little additional time between pleasure sessions to do things like . . . eat and stuff.
Eventually Louis Wu gets off the wire, meaning that he’s bested the greatest form of addiction ever known to mankind, but it’s hard for him.
Now the FDA is considering approving something like a droud for depressed people in the real world.
Mind you, it’s a low-grade 20th century one. It stimulates the vagus nerve (not the pleasure center directly) that connects up to various parts of the brain. And despite glowing testimonials from some users, there is doubt about whether the thing even works.
But still . . .
Thanks! I remember the wirehead thing, and I had a vague idea it was Niven, but I couldn’t remember for sure. Niven’s oeuvre is so big, I could have searched forever. (Oh, the agony!) 🙂