For example "All week he had been struggling to produce the right sound effects,"
How would you even know you hit the right sound effect? What is your judgement for good or bad on something that is subjective?
"Other people are getting married. I guess I should go on with the program (shrug). Hmm, this person took an interest in me (or my friends/mother/etc hooked me up with this person), I could marry them maybe.".
>Getting a job?
Hmm, I feel physical hunger. Maybe I need to get a job. Hmm, here's a sign for help wanted. Maybe I can apply there.
>Playing a game or watching a movie?
I'm physically tired. Maybe I'll sit in front of the TV for a little while. People do that.
>How would you even know you hit the right sound effect?
- Jack, we need thunderstorm sounds and dogs barking in the distance. - OK, I know what those sound like. I'll try to replicate them. Let me find some thunderstorm recordings etc.
(No emotions needed -- at best you just need to consider them "faithful reproductions" not to feel enthusiastic or whatever about them. Good, in this case, is quantifiable -- "sounds a lot like the real thing").
With regards to the thunderstorm thats not how it works. It's not the rational request thats the problem but the intuition around when it feels right. Emotions are fundamental to making any kind of creative decisions.
They don't. They just copy what other people do because it's the default thing to do (everyone does it), and because they want to stop that annoyance (annoyance like we feel annoyance from a crappy seat belt or uncomfortamble shows, not emotional misery) and distraction (the nagging from other people, etc). No emotion mostly means that they aren't enthusiastic about getting married, and they are not miserable because they are not married either. You can conform to something just by thinking about it, you don't have to have any emotions on the matter. Same way people used to have arranged marriages back in the day (and still in some cultures). They didn't necessarily have any affection to the other person, not they had any great urge to get married.
>With regards to the thunderstorm thats not how it works. It's not the rational request thats the problem but the intuition around when it feels right.
You don't need to feel emotion-based intuition for when it "feels right". "Feels" is just a word we use to describe our selection process but it doesn't mean there have to be "feelings" involved.
You just need to check that your sound effect sound as you remember those things to sound. No need to be dissapointed when they don't, or feel creative or elated when they do.
Of course you need to build up intuition when you create things that doesn't have a matemathical formula. Thats exactly what intuition is a combination of rational understand, experience and emotional awareness of what decision is right and which one is wrong to you. Without it you would have a hard time making any decisions at all.
There is a reason why humans have developed emotions.
The point is that I don't believe this person is completely without emotions whatever biochemical function it boils down to.
For another weird concept look at humanities universal habit of rationalizing irrational decisions. For no good reason I did XYZ, now listen to my detailed rationalization based on emotions or Vulcan-level logic, which doesn't really matter because I really have no idea why I asked ABC out on a date or decided to buy that car or eat that second piece of birthday cake, although in detailed post-rationalization I can dream up all kinds of sand castles in the sky explaining elaborate logical reasons or stark emotions that I supposedly experienced before I made a random decision. This adds an annoying second level of analysis, why do some people do random things just like everyone else, but their societal or cultural failure is rationalizing it as logic or admitting it was just random, whereas "everyone knows" we must, at least in public, declare it to be the result of emotion.
I agree with your empathy description. In fact a lot of people think empathy primarily is about the ability to feel other peoples pain but it's much wider than that. But thats another discussion.
I think you conflate emotions with any kind of functioning at all. You can still function, think, try to avoid tension and people being angry or annoyed at you, without feeling any emotions.
If you discover that something you do makes someone unconfortable for example, you can decide to stop it, despite not feeling bad about doing it.
"Hmm, this guy says this thing I do makes him feel bad. I'm told that feeling bad is something people don't like. I should stop it, so that he doesn't feel bad, so that I'm like normal people or so I wont get into trouble for what I do".
Motivation for going with the flow doesn't gave to be "oh, I'll be miserable if I wont". It can be mere rational reasoning -- "I better not make waves" or things like "last time I did that they punched me and it hurt. I'd want to avoid being punched again".
The have an extra-rational pull towards doing one thing rather than some other thing. There's no real way to "carve reality at the joints" in a way that excludes what this person is feeling/doing vs someone with "real" emotions.
Such a person would make an astounding diplomat.
The reward mechanism would probably be in maximizing physical comfort in return for minimal physical effort.
But beyond that everything else is an emotion - happiness, sadness, anger, annoyance, loneliness. Beyond the most basic tasks everything requires emotions to drive you. Why do you study for an upcoming exam? Because you are anxious about getting a good grade? Why are you anxious? Because you may not want to upset your parents? Why does that bother you? You love them or fear their displeasure. Why do you fear your parent's displeasure? Ignoring corporal punishment (which could be an avoidance of pain/injury), other reasons include wanting to avoid stress, or being upset when they confront you about it. And so on. You cannot get through life except the most basic functions (like avoiding pain, eating, sleeping, etc) without emotions.
The article seems to equate the reduced perception of emotions to a total absence of them.
On one had you're right those are genuine issues, there's little motivation to do anything really. I guess it is a spectrum but I still feel that if someone asks me to do something that I'm being a nice person if I do it, I guess others might be devoid of that. So if invited to do something I normally go, but I only originate plans if I feel I'm doing it for others e.g. if someone is visiting I'll setup a dinner for us all. At the end of a week when I've been busy I cab be annoyed at how much of my life is spent doing things for others, but I do know that's because I don't do anything at all for myself.
I'm married and I wouldn't say I am because it's something expected of me. I think I want to be healthy mentally later in life and I know I can put the work in to give my wife a happy life, also that I didn't hide the way I am from her. If I didn't do these things it would be equivalent to just kind of giving up and I guess I haven't done that so I do these kind of things for future me who I want to be in a good place. I do love, I don't think it's quite the feeling love is to others but love/loss are recognisable.
I work to succeed and for financial security basically, I can't fathom a job I "enjoy" but in my mind besides paying bills it's like a game and I win if I'm successful. A good way to think about it is when a big project finishes it's a bit weird for me because I don't really get happiness or pleasure or a sense of achievement from it, it's kind of like a vaccum. The day a system goes live is no different from day 1 on the project. Within the vaccum I just get hyper-critical of my performance I think my brain is thinking it's important to improve for next time and just immediately focusses on what it needs to do to make that happen.
I do watch films/games, although not that much, but I like being distracted and having something to do. I watch twitch and sport where I do find it easy to support teams. I would never be upset after a result in sport or anything, I don't get nervous before or excited after a win but I like the pattern, which players are good/bad, analysing tactics, following the story etc.
Reward mechanism - I don't think there's anything in my life like that I could google it but not sure what it means. I don't do anything to reward myself at all.
So for example picking a colour for a carpet or pick a new pair of shoes is a nightmare and I put that kind of thing off because ultimately I have no way in my brain to pick beyond that I want something plain so it's quite uncomfortable.
Or picking a holiday destination is awkward, I live in Europe but I don't care whether I next go to Berlin, Paris or Rome. Even if I've been there before versus not I just don't care at all beyond if I consider it stressful being out of comfort zone or something in which case some places can be ruled out.
I suppose that's the trivial things, the bigger life decisions where I can't make a decision I guess ultimately my wife makes for us.
I don't think that's specific to this condition, I've read elsewhere that lots of people have a similar scientific approach to decision making.