Do you think inanimate objects are alive?

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aghogday
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01 Jun 2011, 12:50 am

I would imagine before humans created a material world of their own, that they commonly personified nature, as a means to identify their surroundings. Even though we know objects are inanimate, living with inanimate objects is a pretty new phenomenon for human beings. The earth itself was probably more alive for our ancestors than it is for many human beings today.



iheartmegahitt
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01 Jun 2011, 1:28 am

I always get upset when someone hurts my axel plushie or if my friends take him from me. He is my comfort object and I always have to have him with me. But I know he isn't real but I do have a hard time understanding this since I consider him the only one who knows how to comfort me in tough situations. :P I :heart: my Axel plushie.


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NadineWolfe
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01 Jun 2011, 2:10 am

Logically I of course now that they aren't, but I personify my stuff,



Mummy_of_Peanut
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01 Jun 2011, 4:32 am

My daughter becomes really attached to inanimate objects and gives them personalities. She's only 5yrs, but there's an obvious difference between her and her peers. One time she picked up a stick and then accidentally left it at the library. A while later she remembered it and was wailing for 'Sticky'. She's done this sort of thing a few times. A few weeks ago she got a remote control Dalek as a gift. The next day, it stopped working properly. My husband told her that he would take it back to the shop to get a replacement. She was devastated and said that she would rather keep it, in it's broken state, than replace it. In the end, my husband replaced it, without her knowing, and just told her that he'd managed to fix it.



ScientistOfSound
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01 Jun 2011, 5:03 am

No, but I look weird most of the time, because I name objects and talk to them xD
But they're objects, and can't come to life. Thats how I see it, and how i've always seen it.



roseblood
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01 Jun 2011, 6:31 am

Yes, very much as a child, just a little now. I even used to leave my pencil case open so my stationery objects could breath. Now I know this is connected to autism I'll add it to my list of things to mention when I'm assessed. :)



draelynn
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01 Jun 2011, 8:46 am

I treat things like they are alive - when my car acts up I'll ask it what the deal is. I tend to curse out my electronics fairly often. I KNOW they aren't alive - just as Han Solo knew the Millenium Falcon wasn't alive even though his cajoling really did seem to placate the cranky old ship.



SilverSolace
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01 Jun 2011, 10:38 am

I am very much this way. I used to buy toys from the toy store because I thought I could take better care of them; I could value them more than anyone else could. I would beg my friends to give me one of their toys (beanie babies) for this reason. I still remember which ones I got from other people, and which ones I bought on my own or were given to me as presents. I always thought I was rescuing them from violent trauma, as my friends were much rougher with their toys than I was, and I knew they (the toys) had feelings.

I was also very careful with my furniture (kind of) and bikes, as well as any kind of electronic, because I always felt they had a form of consciousness in a way. I grew especially attached to one laptop, and called it "Lappy." A few years ago its circuit board (or something) shorted out, and the charging cable melted. I blamed myself (and still do) because I realised if I used him less often especially in hotter weather, that probably never would have happened. Whenever I think of Lappy my throat gets all tight and I feel sad, even though I know it's really silly to feel sad for a lost laptop (or toy).

I also become attached to characters in video games (Such as pokemon, or shaman king, or any other games where I can collect or own creatures or minions and "raise" them. I cried when I accidentally deleted my first pokemon when trying to clone it with a glitch. I feel embarrassed about it now, but I still feel sad/nostalgic for it). >_< I even talk to my in-game pokemon... It immerses me in battles so I can focus better, and feel more motivated to win.

When I went to public school, I became emotionally attached to my pencils and pens, and sometimes erasers. Once, I had sharpened my pencil to a near stub, and the teacher told me to throw it away. I was horrified, and hid it from her and then took it home to rescue it from possible disposal.

Even though I know I should know better, I still can't help but think these objects still have thoughts/feelings/personalities (Or at least memories). And so I sleep with stuffed animals every night, and make sure to pay attention to any of my toys or personal objects that I walk by or see. I look longingly at toy or gift shop areas in places I shop at, and I want to correct any children I see who are playing with their toys roughly.
I hate to throw anything away, and so I guess I could be seen as a mild "hoarder." I find my stuff, no matter how old (ESPECIALLY if its old) to be very valuable and of emotional importance. These things are a window into my childhood, when I DIDN'T know any better and thought they were alive :D

However no one can convince me that trees/other flora don't have a form of consciousness (even if they don't have personalities like I see in them). I treat plants like I would animals, and feel just as bad if the plants die almost as much as I would if an animal did.
Only difference there is the smell. >_>



Ellytoad
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01 Jun 2011, 11:18 am

I do tend to personify some inanimate objects. Take the planets in the solar system, for example. I think they each have a consciousness. Logically I know they can't, but the sense is still there.



BlueMage
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01 Jun 2011, 11:35 am

No one really knows whether other people are really alive and have feelings. The only reason we think so is because we have empathy, we see other people and feel for them. So feeling for an inanimate object really is not much different from an individuals experience.

What gets me is how much "inanimate" objects are so imbued with purpose. It really hit me after doing a meditation/visualization exercise. I guess no one will get it unless they've had the same feeling... but buttons want to be pressed! Scissors want to cut things! Shoes want to be on feet. If it weren't for their purpose, these things would not even exist. What is a rocks purpose though? A tree? Well those were created by intelligence that is not human, so perhaps we cannot understand.

Thinking something is a person or alive is just an illusion, a model we have in our minds to make sense of the world. We call things "alive" or "people" just because we can relate to them. A rock could have feelings for all we know, there is no way to prove or disprove it.