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Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 2, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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A rather broad question rather than a small one: do you enjoy being embodied, feeling and doing stuff with your physical body in the real world?

For me, the answer is obvious – I would leave my body behind and not interact with the physical environment at all if I could. I just don’t feel any positive emotions moving around, being present, interacting with objects that aren’t a screen of some form. I never did for some reason, even as a kid.

It is strange because I’m a fairly healthy male in my late 20s without any disabilities, nor am I terribly out of shape (although I am slightly overweight due to working a sedentary job nowadays, but I had the same feeling even when I was at a normal weight), so I should theoretically be the prime demographic for enjoying bodily sensations. Some people have described intense physical activity to me as being inherently pleasurable – I’ve played my fair share of sports at the insistence of my parents as a teenager, and never felt anything other than irritation during and after training, so hearing others say it feels like listening to an alien describing the awesome parties of Alpha Centaura.

This sincere distaste for being embodied extends to a lot of aspects of life that most people tend to find enjoyable – I don’t care much for travel, tinkering with things or the physical side of sex either. I constantly find myself actively not wanting to go places or do things with my hands, and would probably be among the first to start living in some VRMMO full-time, Ready Player One style, once (okay, okay, “if”, let a man cope) it becomes an option.

Is this some fairly unique side-effect of the ‘tism that makes me miss out on universal human experiences, or do some of you feel that way as well?

I don't hate my body. It comes in handy at times. It does what I ask it to, mostly, and hasn't broken down from old age even though I'm past the nominal best-by date.

That being said, I am a transhumanist, and would happily ditch it for an upgrade. I'd be more than ready to upload my mind into a computer, while relying on physical end-effectors to do things in the real world.

I’ve played my fair share of sports at the insistence of my parents as a teenager, and never felt anything other than irritation during and after training, so hearing others say it feels like listening to an alien describing the awesome parties of Alpha Centaura.

More or less the same. Never enjoyed sports much, though I did like tennis. Football was a nightmare since I wear glasses.

I don’t care much for travel, tinkering with things or the physical side of sex either

Can't say I don't like sex, but I'm not one for proactively seeking to travel. I'll go if someone does all the hard work of planning things out, and occasionally find the results enjoyable. Physical tinkering was never a real hobby, beyond it being a necessity for doing things like building a PC. I want the computer, I don't want to pay the premium for a prebuild, so I made one myself.

Is this some fairly unique side-effect of the ‘tism that makes me miss out on universal human experiences, or do some of you feel that way as well?

Autism often comes with sensory processing issues and body dysphoria.