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What is it like to have never felt an emotion?

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

#21
Along the same lines are those who have low affect or have emotions, but they are very weak. I would classify myself in that category, so I can perhaps understand a bit of what alexithymia would be like. For example, I took a roller coster once, and it was interesting by emotionally void.

So imagine the "feeling" of just sitting in a chair in an empty room. Now imagine "feeling" that way all through a roller coaster. No excitement, fear, enjoyment, etc...

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

#22
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Not really, Nash equilibria aren't necessarily the best outcome for any individual (cf the prisoner's dilemma). Cooperation is usually better than every-man-for-himself for everyone involved, hence why social animals evolve altruistic traits. Of course, selfishness works at the expense of an altruistic majority, but that's why people don't like to associate with psychopaths

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

#23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Why would caring for yourself be "more logical" than for others? I don't think the concept even applies.

Logic concerns itself with the validity of reasoning: Given X and Y, you can validly infer Z - it doesn't concern itself with the goals. So, unless there's an underlying axiom that supports the assertion that you should promote your interests above others', it's not "more logical" to do so than to dedicate your life to others.

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

#25
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I believe the traditional 'logical' argument is that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"...

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

#26
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…

I think it's more along the lines of an agnosia or aphasia. They receive the same somatic input, it's just not translated into affect the way most people do, in the same way that a face doesn't register 'faceness' to someone with prosopagnosia.

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

#27
post #18
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…

Other people getting married is not something you would care about since you have not emotions.

With regards to the thunderstorm thats not how it works. It's not the rational request thats the problem but the intuition around when it feels right. Emotions are fundamental to making any kind of creative decisions.

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

#28
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.

Without emotions, what would cause a person to prefer physical comfort over physical discomfort?

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

#29
"There is one, slim advantage: he finds it easier to cope with medical procedures, since he doesn’t attach the fear, sadness or anxiety to it. “I can put up with an awful lot of pain or unpleasant experiences because I know very shortly I won’t have an emotional memory associated with it,” he says. “But it means that positive memories get washed away too.”"

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

#30
> The condition is found in around 50% of people with autism

Oh please, journalism .

Wordless about emotions? Maybe. Not knowing the words for emotions? Maybe. Emotionless? Ha. Spend time with any group of people with autistic spectrum disorders & tell me 50% are emotionless. Confusing words with the phenomena & further contributing to the barriers they have to express their inner life, not on.

To say it matter of factly like this in science journalism with no sense of the controversy to popular perception or those who have relationships with neurodiverse people, or motivating the point of view behind a scientist, but instead, reporting as fact. This view is surely contravertial in the scientific community, let alone with the public in contact with autistic people - and the worse thing is, if you tell an autistic person, they could believe it.

The only basis I have for saying "this is surely controversial in the scientific community" is 1. my faith in that community 2. my experience of the emotional lives of people on the autistic spectrum. 1 says they'd find out about 2 because it's a real thing.

They have empathy & emotions - like colonization - the one's trying to 'help' can sometimes be the cause of the most harm.

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