What if the plausibility of wireheading above the level of sign-flipped depression is an illusion?
That is, we know that long-term drug use can damage the brain, and that it can be cripplingly addictive. What if the blissgasm pod just melts your brain as higher and higher stimulus levels are needed as the sections necessary for continued sapience atrophy away from lack of use?
In this scenario, you could still tile the galaxy with VR pods, but it would be necessary for them to simulate a wide range of experiences such that there was still a person inside.
…is this not the default scenario?
Like, my impression was that few people think that wireheading is a promising path towards improved human welfare, for precisely this reason.