Divergent sexualities

[FrustratedFool]

We could tease apart the love itself from the reciprocal element (laying aside the illusion of reciprocity).  So I can experience reciprocity separate from love.  

Love plus reciprocity is better than love on its own, I totally agree.  But the love element is the same emotion, I can assure you.  Love, as in the bare emotion, is the same thing.  The details around it vary quite a lot, as they do for all relationships.

I guess until you have the experience of both human love and objectum love it's hard for people to compare and assess.  But many objectums are not exclusive objectums and have human relationships too (both the OS in the video shorts I posted above have human love relationships, for example) and yet use the same word and expressions to describe both and if asked will tell you it feels largely the same.  It does for me: certainly enough to unhesitatingly call both love.

I'm not disputing whether what you experience is love towards an object. Do whatever you want, it's your life and you decide what you want to do with it. I'm just suggesting that reciprocation of love may be more impactful than what is being suggested. It's my belief that reciprocation of love actually makes me love the other person even more and feel even more connected to them. I think maybe it has to do with pheromones being sent both ways. But I could be mistaken.

I'm glad we agree it's real love.
Relationships with humans certainly have a different 'flavour', but both are 'ice-cream'. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of 'relationship'. As for the emotion, love is nuanced and complex and rarely static within the same relationship let alone between relationships, so it's hard to talk about. In some ways the love for my inorganic partners is more intense and pure, but also more simple and basic. The love I have for my human lover is more muted in intensity, but more rich and variated in complexity.