To me this is more than a philosophical point, more than an engineering issue for AI, it's a current item of human life. The real world (and I am including Nature in the term) is our model for health and sanity. As computer-mediated reality becomes more and more the norm, we risk disconnection from our own embodiment.

How much time do you spend in front of a screen? How much of your existence is mediated already? I just tried VR goggles the other day, and thank God they give you headaches because people are going to try to live in there if it's ever physically possible. (Reminds me of the guy I knew who lived IRL on my friend's couch and played Second Life all day. He had a great second life but no first life.)

One other thing about being embodied: you die.