2010-12-30 19:03:08.985091+01 by Dan Lyke 2 comments
I'm not terribly impressed with Scientific American: The Decline of Empathy other than to toss out the suggestion that, perhaps, we as a society have come to a place where we're once again hitting Malthusian limits, and when our economy is bounded it really is us against them.
[ related topics: Economics ]
comments in descending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2010-12-31 20:03:54.942441+01 by: jeff
Like so many other human attributes, empathy is both a function of nature and nurture.
There can be no question that the global, multi-national, multi-cultural, and resource-constrained world economy is having an effect.
So, while there are natural tendencies for all of us to be empathetic, there are growing economic constraints which are likely imposing multi-dimensional boundaries on many parts of society.
#Comment Re: made: 2010-12-31 18:54:37.808303+01 by: Larry Burton [edit history]
It has always really been us against them. It's just that there are times when we don't have a need to be so selective about who us is.
We will not edit your comments. However, we may delete your comments, or cause them to be hidden behind another link, if we feel they detract from the conversation. Commercial plugs are fine, if they are relevant to the conversation, and if you don't try to pretend to be a consumer. Annoying endorsements will be deleted if you're lucky, if you're not a whole bunch of people smarter and more articulate than you will ridicule you, and we will leave such ridicule in place.
Flutterby™ is a trademark claimed by
Dan Lyke for the web publications at www.flutterby.com and www.flutterby.net.