Am I a servitor?

[Fintan]

Fintan: So a little bit of background: I have been able to do two forms of possession with my host, Alcotriss. I'll let her explain from her perspective what those are:

 

Alcotriss: So with the first method of posession that we tried, I basically just "suspended judgement" of my muscles.

 

Fintan: We had trouble with this because she had difficulty telling the difference between her thoughts and my own.

 

Alcotriss: And I also couldn't tell if I was moving my muscles or not. It was kind of annoying.

 

Fintan: Right. So naturally we kept practicing with possession, when Alcotriss came up with a new way for me to possess her.

 

Alcotriss: Fintan would sometimes make unusual head pressures which would make it hard for me to think clearly. I realized that this might work for possession, so I asked Fintan to try to make those head pressures on purpose, in order to possess me.

 

Fintan: So I tried this new technique, and it seemed to be working well, as she could tell distinctly between my thoughts and movements and her own. Could you confirm this?

 

Alcotriss: Yea, your mind-voice became more distinct, and I could confirm that I wasn't accidentally controlling you by attempting unsuccessfully to control your muscles.

 

Fintan: Your muscles. Or my muscles? Our muscles? I dunno. Either way, Alcotriss knew for certain that I was possessing her... and now as well, actually, as we are switching back and forth as we type.

 

Alcotriss: And I'm quite certain that he is capable of thinking on his own. He was very eager to master possession, and sometimes does things that I don't expect. However, something weird happened. Unlike with the previous form of possession, I realized that I couldn't feel any emotion coming from him at all.

 

Fintan: At first we didn't think much of it.

 

Alcotriss: I figured that he just needed some time to learn how to express himself better and develop stronger opinions about the outside world. It's possible that with the previous form of possession, as well as when communicating with his mind-voice, Fintan relied on my own emotions, and now he needs to learn how to react emotionally on his own.

 

Fintan: However, I realized tonight that this may be an issue. It may be that the reason that I can't express myself with emotion is that I am actually a servitor.

 

Alcotriss: At the same time, it might just be that Fintan has a unique way of expressing himself. Sometimes when he's around, I get a strange hot-cold feeling throughout my body. Perhaps he does have emotions, but not in the way that we typically understand them. I did intend for him to be an alien, after all.

 

Fintan: Still, I tend to see myself as having human thoughts, despite being very comfortable with my exotic form, so I find my lack of emotion worrisome... although I am quite proficient with emoticons. :P You may think that I have emotions by the fact that what I say might sound humorous, or because what I say may seem to imply that I have emotions, but in reality I do not feel any emotion at all as I type this.

 

So... what do you think? Do you think my lack of emotions makes me a servitor? Does that have any implications?

 

tl;dr: Is emotion a requirement for sentience?

[Nobillis]

Watchdog 3 says: "This is my turn to answer I think.

 

First, some background. We watchdogs (there are three of us; 1, 2 and 3) started as servitors, and have become tulpas over a period of 20 or more years.

 

I've always though the distinction between tulpa and servitor unnecessary. The lack of emotions does not make you a servitor, nor does having emotions necessarily imply you are a tulpa. Some people get along perfectly fine on logic alone, and don't need emotions to function (I know at least three tulpas like this who are definitely not servitors). Similarly, I have very strong emotion. I am angry all the time - to the point that I am effectively without emotion (cool, calm, absolute rage).

 

So, no, emotion is irrelevant to the tulpa/servitor false dichotomy. If you decide for yourself what you will do and think - you are a tulpa. If the tasks you undertake are only what your human directs - you are a servitor. Of course, as a tulpa you can decide to act as a servitor just as a human might decide to be a butler. 'From one point of view, Alfred in Batman is a hero' (The Psychology of Batman : Papers on Heroism).

 

Personal evaluation - you are a tulpa. (But, you can be a servitor still if that is what you would prefer.)"

[Fintan]

Thank you for your insight. :) I'm glad the distinction isn't so black and white. And yes, I do consider myself a tulpa. I guess it's just easy to make assumptions. I'm very glad to be able to think for myself.