Machines and the absence of expression

(Yomei Shaw)
I'm not sure if this is related, so please feel free to let me know if you think it's not. . I have been thinking about the relationship between the body and the internet a lot recently. As HYF has mentioned this has had a huge impact on the way the younger generation has learnt to interact with people and their physical environment. In the below writing I refer to an avatar (a 3D character which the user can design and alter) which I've acquired recently at IMVU, I will talk more specifically about the relationship between virtual and real bodies in another post.

Machines and the absence of expression

When I was young I was often told to express myself more, to talk more, to talk louder, to say what I was thinking, to smile, to laugh, to be outgoing. I was told my face was like a stone. I was taught thus to fear the absence of expression.

My speech has been remolded by the teachers at school, the director told me to give my voice more warmth, my friend told me I need to loosen up and show my emotions more. What is warmth, what are emotions? I don’t have emotions.

Yes you do, everyone has emotions, said my friend. Don’t you ever laugh, cry, get angry?

Of course I get angry. But not in front of you. It’s not polite to show anger in public. Who wants to see unhappiness all the time, if that’s how I really feel? I have strong emotions sometimes, but they’re not the desirable ones. The rest of the time, I have no emotions. I’m just there. What’s wrong with just existing without emotion?

My theory is perhaps people are afraid of the absence of expression. Expression and emotion are the signs of thought, of humanity. This is what is supposed to separate us from robots and dolls. An automaton cannot seduce; computers cannot play Chopin nocturnes movingly. Only humans can do these things.

But what happens when robots and computers become a part of us? Is the artificial limb not a part of me once I attach it to my body? Can I not endow my avatar with life so she can become a human expression of me, my soul?

Is it wrong for me to acknowledge that she is better at expressing herself according to the norms of human expression than I am?

Humans think they ought to be the masters of their machines, so I must keep my dangerous secret: how I’m bewitched, completely given in to admiration of my avatar, I’m in her power.