Comment by alganet

Honestly, it reminds me of "All Tomorrows" by C. M. Kosemen.

The "emotions" part is kind of tongue-in-cheek. I think emotional responses are one of the more mechanical parts of a human being.

Ability to demonstrate empathy: that's a good human trick. It can sort of transcend the hard problem of consciousness (what is to be like...) by using all sorts of unorthodox workarounds on our inner workings. It must have been very hard to develop. It doesn't always work, but we'll get there eventually.

edit: fixed book and author name to proper reference