Best of the Web:

The Empathic Civilisation

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Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:00 UTC

Bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society.

Normal human beings are naturally empathic. Human society however has been plagued throughout its history by the influence of psychopaths who, having attained to positions of power, exerted a nefarious and pathological influence on human thought, 'morality' and beliefs.

Reader Comments

thevenusian · 2010-10-29T22:16:37Z

sounds good to me!

Let's all get busy with this now. A small percentage of psychopathic humans are trying to prevent us from being ourselves.

System · 2010-10-30T02:48:03Z

Amazing!

nothing new here, seems like most of what was presented (with the exception of a few studies) was relatively common knowledge. Yet it was the composition and clarity of how it was presented that brought this material under a bright new light. It seems to me though, that there is a move by the powers that be, to engineer us towards the other side of the emotional spectrum, the one were we are apathetic psychopaths...
Thank you for posting this..

Laura · 2010-10-30T06:39:28Z

Wrong?

I think he's wrong saying that the medieval man and the paleolithic man did not have the same soft-wiring for empathy. In fact, I would say that this is the feature that clearly delineated modern man from Neanderthals 40KYA. In the time since then, psychopaths - non-empathic creatures - have infiltrated the human species and interbred with normal humans so that now, there is a larger population of them than ever before.

System · 2010-10-30T12:40:57Z

Good point

I agree with you Laura. Clearly a defining feature of human beings is our ability to identify emotionally with others ( I don't discard that there are animals that have some level of empathy, I actually believe that most animals have a varying degrees of empathy)

pneumaticmatt · 2010-10-30T15:03:00Z

The idea sounds good

but the problem is that most institutions are being coporately driven. And as intimated in the comments above, being driven by psychopathic, self serving organizations steering those of us with empathy towards chaos.

Examples are researchers that can't get grants to do real, insightful study in fields of physics, medicine, chemistry. Pushing drug therapies in lieu of natural cures. Taking away the ability to own property without being taxed off of what you thought you owned. Corrupt political systems that give you the false belief that you choose your leaders. The predatory western banking system that has been allowed to charge usery fees and compound interest. The disembowelment of small farms by giant agribusinesses. Not to mention the military industrial complex that surreptitiously creates conflicts in order to sell their killing implements. I could go on and on....

The point being that those with souls, empathy and honor are being attacked on so many fronts that you can barely lift your head to help yourself let alone attempt to help raise the moral frequency of the planet.

Cogs · 2010-11-01T02:28:10Z

Wow, what an ideal world old mate Jeremy can see.

Here's a few questions for him - If we each have so much empathy for each other, should we all strive to live in the same sized houses that use the same amount of energy therefore reducing carbon emissions to manageable levels? If so, how big are they and how much energy should they use? If the houses are all the same as the average Aussie house,then, see you later world via global warming. Oh, here's easy solution, let's empathise with all the countries about to be devastated by global warming and use less energy...mmm perhaps smaller houses...perhaps less electricity. Yeah, good luck convincing people they must live with less. If humans are truly evolved to be empathetic why are we still so materialistic (i.e. wanting more and more all the time) - because we haven't evolved past simple animal needs. As for houses, cars, fashion, maximised amplified sound...'I want more' is the the common theme these days. Who's going to tell human's that they already have enough and the world is more important than their learned and anxiety driven material wants

He reminds me of a bloody religious freak. Everything looks wonderful from behind the lectern. Now get out there and turn it into reality Jeremy.

Seer · 2010-11-03T23:33:00Z

Not quite...

He missed me with the "Adam & Eve", "We're all from the same gang" speech. Is there any indigenous consciousness anywhere in this country? All the land masses were not connected, & all human beings do not extend genetically from "Africa"! Ever heard of the four bloodlines, "Amerindian", "African", Asian & Caucasian? Not everyone agrees with this "Pangean" theoretical way of thinking, which by the way is very new and clearly not reflected in the Library of Congress-caliber of historical documentation. Smells of European nation-state-building & religious doctrine to me.
I guess the world really is flat.

Seer · 2010-11-03T23:38:36Z

Should we expect more...

From the son of manufacturers of plastic, one of the most poisonous creations on the face of the planet. Hmmm.

“

Quote of the Day

"We have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction."

~ US State Department, 1948

- George Kennan

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The Empathic Civilisation

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