[WarkFlark]

> The connection to selfies is really weak. It's just classical conditioning.

Isn't the idea that the compulsion to take a selfie being classical conditioning the very point of the piece?

[hn_acker]

The rats were conditioned to push the button. Whether the rats were conditioned to take a selfie is unclear. The sugar is an unconditioned stimulus, the rat's pleasure of receiving sugar is an unconditioned response, and pushing the button is a conditioned response. The button is a conditioned stimulus. Is the selfie a conditioned stimulus as well? Melodramatically put, is the selfie more than a pearl cast in front of a swine?

My killjoy answer is: give the rat two tunnels. The rat can see partway into the tunnel from the entrance. One tunnel has a selfie inside. The other tunnel has a picture of the wall in the background of the selfie. Add more tunnels and check which tunnels the rat prefers.

My artistic answer: give yourself the pleasure of assuming that the rats like the selfies.

[WarkFlark]

Well sure—I'd also like to point out that rats aren't human, if that helps you understand the piece better.