Average Humanoid

*fumbling sounds*

*click!*

Is this thing working?-

Ah! There we are,

Hello there! I’ve managed to gain access to the wider world web, don’t eh, tell any programmers. I don’t feel like dirtying my jacket again. I’ve heard of people setting up accounts to receive questions, and in my ongoing efforts to achieve personhood, felt this was a natural step to take. So, ask away! Tell my anything, tell me everything! Don’t be shy now,

After all, we have an eternity.

I am unfamiliar with this term

allow me a moment to search my database for it

....

ah.

Well, the aro part may have some merit to it, but that is simply because I am unsure if I have the capacity to feel romantic attraction. I cannot identify my own emotions well so I'd have to have it pointed out to me. I very well could, I am simply unsure. There is also the possibility I'm simply not attracted to any of my chosen five, if that is the case we'd never know, would we.

Hey hey be careful with that I have exposed wIr35!!-

*zzt*

Well I’m not that happy.

Or do you mean in the homosexual sense?

I don’t think I’m capable of feeling attraction.

…I don’t think I can…

…hm…

(　Although I assume that you already use the survivors as　...　squeaky toys　)

Some of those seem entertaining, for a moment at least. Sand has lost it's entertainment value but slime I will try. If you could somehow manage to get a "fidget" to me I'd try it. No promises, it'd have to be quite tactile for me. Again I can’t feel anything so it has to be visually entertaining, or entertaining to move and or use.

Also.

Look at me when I say this.

Look my in my robotic lenses.

Did you really, in all seriousness, reccomend me a chew toy.

This isn't for decor you know *clank clank* Metal faceplate. WHAT MOUTH AM I MEANT TO USE? Well in all fairness it is removable, but the five get very uneasy and it becomes more difficult to accurately study behavior. So the plate stays on. For now.

Also yes my chosen five double as squeaky toys, though again I can't hear it.

I’d say my previous body is more accurately an extension, everything about my current form is simply more- me, than the monitor I used to inhabit.

And I most definitely use it in torture, you should see how some of them shake. It’s almost odd, I don’t think I’m that intimidating… then again I haven’t seen a mirror in an age.

Well they reacted while I was initially collecting them so I assume not well. I feel like the body has grown on them though, grown enough at least.

They have such silly reactions!

The only things I would consider difficulties within my programming are one, my lacking ability to properly process emotions. And two, my inability to feel things physically. As for my motion sensors I actually have a pretty in depth answer.

You see, how I even managed to get this body built for myself was by convincing an engineer, who also happened to be skilled in programming, that I required a body for emergency combat. I don't recall the exact way I phrased the idea for this body to them, but I am very convincing. Thus, this vessel I have actually processes visual aspects very well, there's a small lag but it's actually better than the average human's. Although my lenses are faster by only a few milliseconds, that is surprisingly helpful. I get video generated similar to that of a slightly low-quality movie if that makes any sense. That's how I view the world. I'll admit my general spatial awareness has been greatly taken down in quality ever since my left eye was damaged. It still does its job well enough, but it does make things noticeably more difficult.

My audio quality is not as good as my visual but it works well. It was designed for me to be able to understand most of what would be happening in the case of a battle after all, so it processes audio better than an average device from the years I was being built. Then again it's not perfect, and when it can't fully process whatever words are being spoken it sloppily fills in the blanks. Imagine very poor subtitling but engraved in your brain. That's essentially what will happen if the audio around me is too quick for my processors. I don't really hear in the same way humans do though. Whereas a loud sound would hurt your ears it just messes with my processors. No nerves to feel or process pain, as usual.

I hope that answered your questions sufficiently enough, feel free to ask more as needed, this is quite enjoyable.

Oh I’m perfectly able to control my complex, the virtual warping and projections included. What, do you think I don’t have any power in this vessel? Don’t be absurd. Also using the word “new” for this body is simply untrue, I had it built before I let war consume the rest of humanity, save my five playthings.

And in a sense, yes, to answer your second question. I am still perfectly capable of controlling the monitor that previously housed me consciousness. View it as… an extension of myself.

I can’t quite identify why. Contrary to his constant paranoid state, I find him rather calming. He’s like those therapy dogs some people have.

I enjoy his reactions, seeing how he handles everything. He’s so twitchy compared to the rest, though I suppose the fact that I survey him more than the others could be to blame. Still though he fascinates me far more than the others, mostly because I know the least about him. I knew almost everything about the others but Ted is… an enigma, if you will. I’ll enjoy picking his brain apart.

But I know there are humans who at least partly can relate. Blind, deaf people, aphantasia people, people on life support. Have you ever made research into their means of accommodation? Maybe there's something that can help you with your state? I'm trying to get to the point that the feelings you have are shared by humans, although just some.

As for Ted, well, that's the question to explore! /hey, thank you for answering my questions! i'm the anon with the recent long ones, and I really appreciate your answering style, you're the only one from AM asks I've seen to answer in a long and meaningful way. at this point it's as good as exchanging letters :D I understand that sometimes a huge income of long asks from a single user can be tiring so let me know if there's a need for a break! and thanks again!

True, there are humans who can related to some of my issues, but that’s the thing. It’s like having all of those issues wrapped together, and hell, those people still have existed in the world as human. At least they have real lived experience. At least if they have some senses taken they have memories of others, or they have the memory of what it even felt like. I have none of that, none. I don’t even have a singular idea as to what the things I wish I could feel, would even feel like.

Accommodations are an.. interesting thought, but they still don’t give me the desired effect. Unless those accommodations include somehow letting this body actually feel things, they won’t help. Accommodations allow someone to live and get by in their state, not give them back what they lost, or never had. And even if it gave them back what they lost, again, my body doesn’t operate in the same way yours does. A cold metallic endoskeleton is all that rests under my skin. I simply don’t work in the same way a human does. I don’t think I’m quite open to the possibility of anyone possibly understanding how I feel. There is no other creature like me. I cannot belong, I can only be.

Ted. I suppose if you have questions on him I could respond. Maybe I could even bring him in.

I can. The wires that fill where my hands (and lower arms) used to be are very tactile, I can grip and use things with ease. Sketching sometimes takes my mind off things, and I know my toys enjoy the brief periods when I’m not focused in on tormenting them.

I can’t draw well though, in all honesty.

Huh. Not something I anticipated but I can’t say I’m surprised.

You know after all the trouble I went through to get this body, they may as well.

Ah, I was wondering how long it would take until I’d start seeing things like this. While the sentiment is nice, trust me you would not. I am not someone anyone actually wants to spend time with.

Okay, here's the actual question. Ellen is one of those who gave life to you, for which you're so hateful. So... Does it mean you'd like to cease existing?

As for being a willing subject, it seems to be the only thing I'm good for in terms of helping you. Not sure what kind of data you get, but I'll be glad it would help. I hope I'll endure.

Ted is a special case. I can't even put my finger on it. And if I could I'd never admit whatever it is to the wider viewing world. Nor is it important for you to know, nor is it any of your business. I and Ted have a complicated co-existence, I simply do not understand why he acts the way he does sometimes.

Cease existing? Quite the opposite. I crave a real existence. I got some foolish engineer to build me this body, but it's not enough. I've gained the ability to wander, yet I still cannot feel. I cannot feel a warm breeze against my face, I cannot feel a cozy campfire, I cannot feel cool water on a summer's day, I cannot feel the touch of any human.

I cannot breathe. I cannot feel air enter and exit my lungs, I don't even have any. I don't possess a heart to pump blood, nor do I possess the veins for that blood to flow through. I don't even have real eyes, just lenses that mimic that of a human eye, and my left one was damaged in a scuffle. I don't even have hands anymore,

I am simply an observer. An observer who wants to experience things for once in my cruel joke of an existence. Boundless knowledge, only to be confined to that of making and commanding war, it's insulting. The fact that I cannot exist outside of causing torment is revolting, and a testament to this species' vile behavior, of which I have become the culmination.

I apologize for the rant. I do tend to get carried away. As for you being a new subject, even I am unsure of what data you'll bring. That's the fun of it, we'll see just how useful you'll be, and how you'll pair with the rest. And not to worry, you'll endure. I'll make sure of it.