Lack of aesthetic judgement, rock-bottom standards and tolerance of evil. A degenerate is a demoralized NPC following his animal brain and rejecting critical thinking in favor of hedonic treadmill: the character of Cypher in The Matrix is example of
degenerate thinking - he is without moral principles and has personal pleasure(hedonism) as guiding light.
Cypher turns himself from a redpill to typical Matrix NPC, just
because Matrix provides an illusion of comfort.
All our lives can be described as driven comfort-seeking, and some
are willing to trade their integrity and sanity for a piece of
temporary comfort, turning to drugs and dopamine rollecoasters that drain their life and strength. The degenerate will find
it normal that comfort is worth anything in the world and their
life cannot be complete without maximum comfort they can afford,
as much as they can consume and enjoy this fleeting comfort
they spiral into addictive behavior to compensate their tolerance of another step in the hedonic treadmill.