What is it like to have never felt an emotion? • Hacker News Board

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#11

Post by SideburnsOfDoom » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 10:33 AM UTC

ned wrote: post #8

For instance, one day at school he was working with the student theatre. All week he had been struggling to produce the right sound effects, but it just wasn’t coming together. Eventually, his boss lost his cool and started ripping into him. “My response was that something weird was happening with my body,” he says. “I could feel a tension, like my heart was racing, but my mind was distracted… Isn't this an extreme c…

Maybe, since they're talking about Alexithymia, which is defined as "inability to identify and describe emotions in the self". (1)

Who actually has no emotions whatsoever and stays alive? What about primitive things like e.g. the feeling of shock and terror as you are crossing the road and turn to see a bus bearing down on you. This is a basic animal survival response. If all you can say is "my heart was racing" that's not exactly being unemotional, but uncomprehending.

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexithymia

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#12

Post by _nedR » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 10:40 AM UTC

I don't get it. Is the article exaggerating things? How can you function without feeling emotions? What is your motivation for getting married? Getting a job? Playing a game or watching a movie? Succeeding at any task? What is your reward mechanism?

For example "All week he had been struggling to produce the right sound effects,"

How would you even know you hit the right sound effect? What is your judgement for good or bad on something that is subjective?

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#13

Post by coldtea » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 10:52 AM UTC

>What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

Since for it to be something you'd have to feel an emotion regarding your condition, it's nothing (neutral).

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#14

Post by dingaling » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 10:55 AM UTC

_nedR wrote: post #12

I don't get it. Is the article exaggerating things? How can you function without feeling emotions? What is your motivation for getting married? Getting a job? Playing a game or watching a movie? Succeeding at any task? What is your reward mechanism? For example "All week he had been struggling to produce the right sound effects," How would you even know you hit the right sound effect? What is your judgement for good…

I think most of those examples have a rational basis and the non-emotional person could probably make better decisions than the rest of us e.g. choosing a job offer on the basis of benefits and prospects rather than because the office looked cool.

Such a person would make an astounding diplomat.

The reward mechanism would probably be in maximizing physical comfort in return for minimal physical effort.

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#15

Post by stewbrew » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 10:58 AM UTC

How should you know? Actually an interesting problem:

A1. You say you don't experience emotions.

A2. What you call emotions is what you see others do when they say they are acting emotionally. You don't think you are this way.

A3. Your doctor says you're right.

Or:

B1. You say you experience emotions.

B2. Others say you are wrong.

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#16

Post by InclinedPlane » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 11:00 AM UTC

_nedR wrote: post #12

I don't get it. Is the article exaggerating things? How can you function without feeling emotions? What is your motivation for getting married? Getting a job? Playing a game or watching a movie? Succeeding at any task? What is your reward mechanism? For example "All week he had been struggling to produce the right sound effects," How would you even know you hit the right sound effect? What is your judgement for good…

One can still appreciate things on an intellectual level. A lot of people with depression experience something similar during depressive episodes. It's like someone dialed down a knob on the intensity of the world. In the absolute worst case you decide life isn't worth living and follow through on that, it happens hundreds of thousands of times a year around the world. In better cases you don't give up and you do the best with the muted world you've been given to live in and you try to figure out ways to dial it back up (through CBT, exercise, drugs (legal and not), etc.)

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#17

Post by coldtea » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 11:00 AM UTC

cypher_glyph wrote: post #10

hliyan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently, the analogy is not inaccurate: “It may be hard to believe, but it is possible for someone to be cut off completely from the emotions and imagination that are such a big part of what makes us humans,” he says. “And that a person can be cut off from emotions without being heartless, or a psychopath.”

Well, it is illogical to be a psychopath, after all...

What's illogical about it? In fact being a psychopath is the most logical thing (promoting your interests with cold logic with care or mercy for others).

All other behaviors need either a faith in some God or man-given morality, ethics, or emotions like love, mercy etc (which, as emotions, are not logical).

Of course one can logically come to the conclusion that behaving moraly instead of like a psychopath is better for humanity. But even in that case, giving a damn for what's better for humanity (instead of what maximizes your benefits in your lifespan) is illogical.

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#18

Post by coldtea » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 11:06 AM UTC

_nedR wrote: post #12

I don't get it. Is the article exaggerating things? How can you function without feeling emotions? What is your motivation for getting married? Getting a job? Playing a game or watching a movie? Succeeding at any task? What is your reward mechanism? For example "All week he had been struggling to produce the right sound effects," How would you even know you hit the right sound effect? What is your judgement for good…

>What is your motivation for getting married?

"Other people are getting married. I guess I should go on with the program (shrug). Hmm, this person took an interest in me (or my friends/mother/etc hooked me up with this person), I could marry them maybe.".

>Getting a job?

Hmm, I feel physical hunger. Maybe I need to get a job. Hmm, here's a sign for help wanted. Maybe I can apply there.

>Playing a game or watching a movie?

I'm physically tired. Maybe I'll sit in front of the TV for a little while. People do that.

>How would you even know you hit the right sound effect?

- Jack, we need thunderstorm sounds and dogs barking in the distance. - OK, I know what those sound like. I'll try to replicate them. Let me find some thunderstorm recordings etc.

(No emotions needed -- at best you just need to consider them "faithful reproductions" not to feel enthusiastic or whatever about them. Good, in this case, is quantifiable -- "sounds a lot like the real thing").

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#19

Post by pessimizer » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 11:14 AM UTC

This is all self-reported, and people who don't have emotions don't reach out to support groups or express their feelings about not having feelings on message boards.

Also, there has never been a thing called an emotion detected in or on the body of a human. I think the leading theory is that 'emotion' is a rationalization of the current state of one's sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. It's a self-application of theory theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory-theory

Re: What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

#20

Post by buro9 » Wed, Oct 07, 2015, 11:18 AM UTC

stewbrew wrote: post #15

How should you know? Actually an interesting problem: A1. You say you don't experience emotions. A2. What you call emotions is what you see others do when they say they are acting emotionally. You don't think you are this way. A3. Your doctor says you're right. Or: B1. You say you experience emotions. B2. Others say you are wrong.

I wondered the same thing.

How can anyone really know whether what they experience in their black box is the same as what another person experiences?

Evidence of enthusiastically communicating an experience isn't the same as being able to prove that you actually experienced it.

Likewise, not communicating an experience doesn't mean that it wasn't experienced.