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GENERAL ENGLISH · ENGLISH IN VIDEO · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

A LIFE
WITHOUT
PAIN
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1 Warm up

Which of the following situations would cause you the most unhappiness? Number them from 1
(most unhappy) to 6 (least unhappy).

• Getting really ill

• Experiencing physical pain
• Losing a lot of money
• Losing a job
• Going to jail
• Losing a romantic relationship

Now decide which of the following situations would make you happiest. Number them from 1 (most
happy) to 6 (least happy). Compare your answers to both lists with a partner. Explain the reasons for
your choices.

• Falling in love
• Travelling to a country you’ve always wanted to go to
• Getting a great new job
• Gaining a lot of money
• Having children
• Buying a wonderful new home

Answer these questions:

1. What events in your life have made you the happiest?

2. What events in your life have made you unhappy?

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2 Vocabulary in focus
Part A: Add the following segments to the definitions below.

cannot be removed cheating on their meaning of life not to do

someone being aware that feeling pleasure the genuine meaning to do something

1. philosophical (adj.) - connected to ideas about the and how to live

2. hedonism (n) - a way of thinking which believes is of the greatest
importance
3. proposition (n) - a suggestion , often used in business
4. dissuade (v) - to convince someone something
5. unbeknownst (adj.) - without of something
6. infidelity (n) - the act of someone partner
7. intrinsic (adj.) - connected to or nature of something or someone
8. inherent (adj.) - describing a part of something or someone that

Part B: Now put the words from Part A into the following sentences.

1. Anna claimed the divorce was due to her husband’s , though the simple truth was
that she wanted a different life.
2. Their twenties were a time of : endless parties, dancing and drinking until the
early morning.
3. She insisted on going bungee-jumping, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to
her.
4. to the young campers, something was watching them from the bushes. Something
that was hungry.
5. My friend, I have a for you. I want you to listen carefully, because I think this will
benefit both of us.
6. I don’t think social media has any value other than allowing people to pretend
to be something that they are not.
7. I thought the film was quite in the way it dealt with death. It really made me
think.
8. I’m sorry but I do worry about everything. It’s part of my nature.

Now answer the following questions.

1. Is infidelity a common issue in your country? Is it something people talk about? Why/Why not?
2. What is your opinion of hedonism? Is feeling pleasure the most important thing in life?
3. What was the best proposition anyone ever made to you? Why was it so good?
4. What would you say are the inherent or intrinsic qualities of people in your family?

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3 Understanding the general idea

Watch the first section of the TED Talk by Bethany Rickwald and Hayley Levitt on the idea of living
in happiness (00:00 - 00:50) and decide if the following statements are True or False.

1. Robert Nozick was a philosopher.

2. Robert Nozick created a special machine.
3. People using the machine will not know the difference between their experience and reality.
4. Your experiences when using the machine will mostly be positive.

4 Comprehension

Now watch the rest of the video and answer the following questions.

1. This idea was developed in order to ...

a. question the desirability of unending happiness.

b. show how humans need pleasure to function.
c. demonstrate how drugs affect the imagination.
d. aid in the discovery of new sensations.

2. If Hedonism is your personal philosophy, then ...

a. you would avoid being involved in the experiment.

b. you would refuse to attach yourself to the machine.
c. you would probably buy the machine as soon as possible.
d. using the machine would be an obvious choice.

3. In the example, Betsy and Angelica are ...

a. cousins.
b. siblings.
c. mother and daughter.
d. friends.

4. In answer to the question presented by this example, hedonists would say ...

a. Angelica should reveal her secret.

b. Xander has a wonderful life.
c. They should all just learn to live together.
d. Betsy’s ignorance is positive.

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5. In the view of the narrator, the example of Betsy’s situation demonstrates that ...

a. truth and pleasure don’t always connect.

b. lies aren’t always a bad thing.
c. it’s easy to deceive someone who is in love.
d. you don’t always need to choose between two things.

6. Considering this situation can help us to ...

a. respect the human desire for pleasure.

b. understand how motivating pleasure is.
c. consider the benefits of genuine experiences.
d. find pleasure in a greater number of activities.

5 Vocabulary rephrasing
Part A: Look at the following sentences containing words from the video. Choose the option (a-c)
which best gives the meaning of the words in bold.

1. Thanks for inviting me out for a drink. It’s a tempting offer, but I really have to finish my work.

a. an interesting thought
b. an attractive suggestion
c. a good idea

2. When I looked at the twins, I found them to be indistinguishable from each other.

a. was unable to tell them apart

b. was able to see which one is which
c. was able to see they are both talented

3. The course shows you how to maximise the time you spend with your family.

a. decrease
b. make the best use of
c. efficiently organise

4. The car crash was an extremely traumatic event for them and it took many years to fully recover.

a. upsetting
b. problematic
c. fascinating

5. Ethan has been romancing Sara for a few months now.

a. happily married to
b. occasionally dating
c. showing his attraction to

6. He lived in blissful ignorance of the changing political situation happening in his country.

a. without being educated

b. happily unaware
c. with no understanding

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Part B: Now complete the following sentences with a different form of words in brackets.

1. You should come over to my place tonight. Can I you with some cake? You look
like you need a rest! (tempting)
2. She was a lawyer and very highly thought of by her colleagues. (indistinguishable)
3. It’s vital to take the medicine at the same time every day for effect. (maximise)
4. That horror film left me completely ! I couldn’t sleep for several nights afterwards.
(traumatic)
5. There are rumours that the two actors are attached, though this is unconfirmed.
(romance)
6. After my exams were over, I was in a state of complete for the entire summer.
(blissful)

Now in pairs, answer the following questions.

1. What type of food do you find the most tempting when you are hungry?
2. What time of day is best for you if you want to maximise your ability to concentrate?
3. Have you ever romanced someone? Were you successful?
4. What situations in the past have you found to be blissful?

6 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What would you choose to do if you were able to plug into the Experience Machine? Would you
plug in? Or not? Why?
2. If you were Betsy in the example from the video, would you want to know the truth? Or not?
Why?
3. Can you think of examples of experiences you have had in the past which were negative at the
time, but you took something valuable from? What were they? What happened?
4. Have the ideas in this video made you look at life in a different way? Why/Why not?
5. How much of a priority is pleasure in your life? What gives you pleasure?

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Transcripts

4. Comprehension

Narrator: Imagine if you could plug your brain into a machine that would bring you ultimate pleasure
for the rest of your life. If you were given the choice to sign up for that kind of existence,
would you?

Narrator: That’s the question philosopher Robert Nozick posed through a thought experiment he
called the Experience Machine. The experiment asks us to consider a world in which
scientists have developed a machine that would simulate real life while guaranteeing
experiences of only pleasure and never pain.

Narrator: The catch? You have to permanently leave reality behind, but you’ll hardly know the
difference. Your experiences will be indistinguishable from reality. Life’s natural ups and
downs will just be replaced with an endless series of ups.

Narrator: Sounds great, right? It may seem like a tempting offer, but perhaps it’s not as ideal as
it sounds. The experiment was actually designed to refute a philosophical notion called
hedonism.

Narrator: According to hedonists, maximising net pleasure is the most important thing in life because
pleasure is the greatest good that life has to offer. For hedonists, the best choice that
a person could make for himself is one that brings him the greatest possible amount of
pleasure while bringing him no pain. Limitless pleasure minus zero pain equals maximum
net pleasure, or in other words, the exact scenario the Experience Machine offers.

Narrator: Therefore, if hedonism is your philosophy of choice, plugging in would be a no-brainer.

But what if there’s more to life than just pleasure? That’s what Nozick believed he was
demonstrating through his Experience Machine thought experiment.

Narrator: Despite the machine’s promise of maximum net pleasure, he still found reason not to plug
in, as do many other experimenters who consider the proposition. But what could possibly
dissuade us from choosing a future of ultimate pleasure? Consider this scenario. Betsy and
Xander are in a loving, committed relationship.

Narrator: Betsy is head over heels and has never felt happier. However, unbeknownst to Betsy,
Xander has been romancing her sister, Angelica, with love letters and secret rendezvous
for the duration of their relationship.

Narrator: If Betsy found out, it would destroy her relationships with both Xander and Angelica, and
the experience would be so traumatic she would never love again. Since Betsy is in blissful
ignorance about Xander’s infidelity, hedonists would say she’s better off remaining in the
dark and maintaining her high level of net pleasure.

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Narrator: As long as Betsy never finds out about the relationship, her life is guaranteed to go on as
happily as it is right now. So, is there value in Betsy knowing the truth of her situation?
Imagine if you were Betsy. Would you prefer to know the truth? If the answer is yes, you’d
be choosing an option that sharply decreases your net pleasure.

Narrator: Perhaps, then, you believe that there are things in life with greater intrinsic value than
pleasure. Truth, knowledge, authentic connection with other human beings. These are all
things that might make the list.

Narrator: By never learning the truth, Betsy is essentially living life in her own personal Experience
Machine, a world of happiness that’s not based in reality. This love triangle is an extreme
example, but it mirrors many of the decisions we make in day-to-day life.

Narrator: So, whether you’re making a choice for Betsy or for yourself, why might you feel reality
should be a factor? Is there inherent value in real experiences, whether pleasurable or
painful? Do you yourself have more value when you’re experiencing real life’s pleasures
and pains?

Narrator: Nozick’s experiment may not provide all the answers, but it forces us to consider whether
real life, though imperfect, holds some intrinsic value beyond the pleasure of plugging in.

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Key

1. Warm up

10 mins.
Tell students they are going to watch a video about happiness. Ask them to rate the situations and share their
answer with a partner. Ask them to explain the reason for their choices and maybe even to try and persuade each
other to change their views. Circulate and help as needed. When they have done this, ask them to discuss the
questions. Make it clear that they are not required to discuss events which have made them unhappy unless they
are comfortable with doing so. You may want to ask each person in the class to give an example of a time when
they were happiest.

2. Vocabulary in focus

Part A:
5 mins.
Ask the students to add the correct segment to each definition. They may want to use a dictionary or the Internet.
Ensure that they can pronounce the target vocabulary.
Note that intrinsic and inherent are synonyms and, in the examples in Part B, can be used interchangeably. However,
there is a subtle difference in that inherent can be used to talk about a consequence of something whereas intrinsic
is just something that is inseparable. So, for example, you could say "For a lifelong criminal, the risk of going to jail
is inherent to their choice of career". This is because going to jail is a potential consequence. Intrinsic would not fit
in this scenario as effectively.

1. meaning of life 2. that feeling pleasure

3. to do something 4. not to do
5. someone being aware 6. cheating on their
7. the genuine meaning 8. cannot be removed
Part B:
10 mins.
Ask the students to complete the sentences with the words. Ensure they have the answers before asking them to
discuss the questions. Circulate and help as needed.

1. infidelity 2. hedonism 3. dissuade 4. Unbeknownst

5. proposition 6. intrinsic/inherent 7. philosophical 8. inherent/intrinsic

3. Understanding the general idea

5 mins.
Ask students to listen to the first 50 seconds of the video and answer the questions. Ask them to compare their
answers before discussing them as a class.

1. True. "That’s the question philosopher Robert Nozick 2. False. It is a thought experiment, not a real machine.
posed"
3. True. "Your experiences will be indistinguishable 4. False. They will only be positive.
from reality."

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4. Comprehension

10 mins.
Ask the students to watch the video and answer the questions. Before doing so, ask them to read the questions
carefully to ensure they understand them.

1. a 2. d 3. b 4. d 5. a 6. c

5. Vocabulary rephrasing

Part A:
5 mins.
Ask students to choose the option which replaces the words in bold with the same or similar meaning. Ask them to
do it without any help, to begin with, and then check their answers using a dictionary or the Internet if required.

Note that the speaker says the following: "Therefore, if hedonism is your philosophy of choice, plugging in would
be a no-brainer." A no-brainer is a phrase used when the choice is obvious. You literally don’t have to use your
brain to make a decision.

1. b 2. a 3. b 4. a 5. c 6. b
Part B:
10 mins.
Students are likely to need a dictionary or the Internet to complete this. Ask them to identify which part of speech
could fill the space before they attempt to find the correct word. Ask them to pay attention to the context created
by the sentence to help them find the words. When they have finished, ask them to answer the questions in pairs.
Circulate and help as needed.

1. tempt 2. distinguished
3. maximal 4. traumatised
5. romantically 6. bliss

6. Talking point

10 mins.
Ask students to discuss the questions. Circulate and help as needed.

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