Would you still love me if I were a worm?

The question of many couples has surfaced to my mind recently, in which one asks the other if they would still hold the same feeling of affection if they turned into an animal. Though the typical response would be something corny like "of course my dear" or some gobbledygook, I really think when put realistically, the answer would be most likely no. The great ethical dilemma I get from such a nonsensical query is that it is impossible to not judge someone who has based a change around themselves. Even through concepts such as "true love", I think it does not change the fact that we humans are biased in our own ways and how it influences the way we perceive others.

When putting it into perspective, if a lover of many years suddenly lost all their limbs in an accident I think that what we think of them might change drastically. The one who you created memories with may be the same person you have known throughout your life but due to such a major change in their lifestyle, the 'identity' of themself may have changed drastically in the present. This identity I want to put out is the features that they consist of, for example: their personality, hobbies, and skills. At this point, when asking if the love of someone alters due to a large lifestyle change of their partner, it depends on the reasoning for loving them. If you loved them for a physical trait they possessed, a physical disability may be an important reason why one may feel a disparity in how they feel about them. A personality based love on the other hand may result in different treatment as one looks at the actions of oneself and how they can remain the same even through great physical change.

Finally, when we look at the worm scenario, I think there may be a very different outcome. This can be because the change someone performs is extreme in this scenario where one changes fully. The reason why I think it is impossible to love someone the same in this scenario is because as a worm, you lose all sense of humanity. All the traits, whether be it physical, personality or any other feature a love one contains, is lost when one change their species. As a worm, are you still able to convey the love you have for your partner? Heck! Is it even possible to think with only 188 neurons? I think one of the greatest biases humans have is the idea of being the most superior species, favouring our own over others. Such biases may cause one to think that a worm as a lesser being is needless of love like humans do and not receive the same treatment that others may be given. I think this is like the ability to easily kill bugs compared to the severity of murdering another human.

At this point I realize the importance that change has on the perception of oneself. Those that know you for a certain thing may think of you differently if this trait of yours is switched up. We all contain our own ideal traits and something's loss of said trait may cause oneself to lose favour for it. To sum it all up, whether it be a permanent physical disability, or a change of one's species, we cannot ignore the fact that the recipient has forgone a change within themselves, and how we react to such a change depends on what we feel the relationship we formed with them is worth.