VTubers and the Imagination of Non-Embodied Identity

How Do We Imagine an Existence Without a Body?

About this topic

This question deeply explores how we construct mental images of, direct emotions toward, and form relationships with existences that lack physical flesh, such as VTuber avatars. How does the absence of a body transform the processes of imagination, projection, and empathy? From the avatar's 'appearance' and 'voice', what kind of 'body' do viewers imagine, and as what kind of 'person' do they recognize it? Applying Cartesian mind-body dualism, Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of embodiment, and the extended mind thesis (Clark & Chalmers) to the modern virtual context, it reexamines the 'mode of existence', 'foundations of intimacy', and redefinition of 'human-likeness' in the digital age. This theme touches the core of a future society where relationships with bodiless existences — AI avatars, holograms, virtual reality others — will only increase, extending far beyond VTubers.

Conceptual positions

01 Extended Mind / Extended Body Thesis

Mind and body are not confined within the skull or skin. VTuber avatars and voices function as extensions of viewers' cognition and emotion; even bodiless existences can fully constitute 'personhood'. Applies Clark & Chalmers' theory to the virtual context.

02 Imagined Embodied Cognition

The absence of a body does not make empathy or emotional investment impossible; rather, viewers' imagination supplements a 'virtual body', enabling deep empathy through it. Extends Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body and emphasizes the mechanism by which VTuber voice and movement evoke an imagined body.

03 Relational Ontology of Existence

Existence is not an isolated substance but is constituted within relationships with others. In the case of VTubers, they appear as 'persons' within the web of interaction, projection, and imagination with viewers. The presence or absence of a body is secondary; the quality of the relationship is primary.

04 Virtual Realism / Phenomenological Position

VTuber avatars are not 'not real' but possess their own ontological status as real within digital space. The phenomenological experience of 'being there' that viewers feel becomes the ground of existence beyond the absence of a body. Transcends the 'real or fake' dichotomy.

Talk entry points

When you see a VTuber avatar, what kind of 'body' do you imagine? From the voice and movements, what appearance or tactile sensation do you draw in your mind?
When you feel strong emotions toward a bodiless existence (VTuber or AI), in what ways do you feel those emotions differ from emotions toward a person who has a real body?
If an avatar had no 'appearance' or 'voice', would it become difficult to feel that existence as a 'person'? Or can you feel sufficient 'person-likeness' through something else?
If you yourself became an avatar or virtual existence, how would you imagine your bodiless self, and how would you want to convey it to others?
When you think 'I want to meet' a VTuber, where do you want to meet them? A real place? Virtual space? Or does the answer become 'inside my imagination'?
What characteristics does the 'intimacy' or 'loneliness' you feel in relationships with bodiless existences have compared to real human relationships? Please share from your own experience.

Conceptual tensions

Absence of Body vsEstablishment of Intimacy

Why do such deep emotions and attachments arise despite the absence of a body? Does the absence of a body hinder intimacy, or does imagination create new forms of intimacy? The tension between the two lies at the core of the VTuber experience.

Imagination vsReality

Is the body and inner world projected onto a VTuber merely 'just imagination', or does it function as 'reality' for the viewer? How do we handle the reality possessed by products of imagination and the sway of 'realness' brought by the absence of a body?

Freedom vsConstraint

Bodiless existences enable free expression liberated from physical constraints, yet they depend on viewers' imagination and easily generate misunderstanding or one-sided projection. Both the richness brought by freedom and the fragility brought by the absence of a body.

Particularity vsUniversality

While strongly drawn to the specific avatar, voice, and personality of a VTuber, can this be universalized as emotion toward 'bodiless existences in general'? Which — the individual charm or the structural feature of bodilessness — defines the relationship?

Loss vsExpansion

Does a relationship with a bodiless existence cause loss of relationships with 'people who have real bodies', or does it expand the very concept of human relationship and open new possibilities of intimacy? How do we accept the ambiguity of loss and expansion?

Talk note

This theme treats VTubers not as 'special virtual existences' but as mirrors of our own 'body and imagination'. It is a gentle, deep space for dialogue to explore together the freedom and loneliness brought by the absence of a body, the power and limits of imaginary projection, and new forms of intimacy in the digital age. The purpose is mutual understanding and self-understanding, not judgment.

Glossary

Embodiment / Corporeality: The property that recognition, emotion, and relationships of self and others are constituted through physical flesh. In the case of VTubers, the absence of a physical body generates an imagined corporeality and an alternative corporeality mediated by voice and movement.
Non-Embodied Identity: The identity possessed by a subject without physical flesh. Constituted by avatar, voice, personality, and behavioral patterns, and dynamically formed and transformed within relationships with viewers.
Imaginary Projection: The psychological mechanism by which viewers overlay their own desires, emotions, and ideals onto a bodiless existence and imaginatively supplement a fictional body and inner world. The foundation of VTuber fan psychology.
Digital Presence: The sense of 'being there' generated through voice, video, and interaction in the absence of physical co-presence. The source of the 'place to belong' and 'intimacy' that viewers feel in VTuber streams.
Avatar Body: The substitute body that a 2D/3D avatar holds for viewers. A 'second body' possessing both expressive possibilities freed from physical constraints and the bodily image that viewers project and imagine onto it.
Mode of Existence: The way of being, mode of recognition, and manner of relating that differs according to the presence or absence of a body. VTubers, as 'bodiless existences', present a mode different from conventional human existence and expand our understanding of existence itself.

Talk prompts

Ice breaker

Recall one recent moment when you encountered a VTuber, AI avatar, or virtual existence and 'what kind of body you imagined for that existence'. What was that imagination like?

Deep dive

If you yourself became a bodiless existence (avatar or AI), what kind of 'body' would you want others to imagine for you? Why do you desire that body?

Bridge

While the other person is talking about a VTuber or AI, quietly imagine: 'What kind of body is this person imagining for this existence, and what emotions are they projecting?' How does that imagination enrich the other person's story?

Further questions

When AI avatars or fully automatically generated virtual existences appear, how will imaginary projection and empathy change in a state where 'absence of body' has advanced even further?
When 'physical co-presence' becomes temporarily possible in VTuber 3D lives or VR events, what is the difference in emotional quality compared to ordinary 2D streams?
When one feels 'death' or 'retirement' in a bodiless existence, how does the pain of loss differ from the death of a real human?
The psychological mechanism by which viewers project 'their own body' onto VTubers, and the structure of disillusionment when that projection collapses
How do viewers balance the 'freedom' (liberation from constraints of appearance, age, gender) and 'loneliness' (absence of physical touch and co-presence) brought by the absence of a body?
How does the imagined 'body' and emotional landscape change when one is strongly conscious of the existence of 'the person behind' versus treating it completely as an avatar?