How interesting the world would be if we all thought of everyone and everything as completely equal in worth? Everyone would treat everyone else, including animals, as beings that attempt to exist on our Earth for a brief period of time and, thus, emphasize with them. Jeremy Rifkin narrates over illustrations of our need to build a global Emphatic Civilization. He demonstrates how science has found that human (and animal) neurons “fire” as we sense others experience things. When we see a spider crawl on another person’s arm, we emphasize with them. The “victim” and the “spectator” experience the same sensations and “fire” identical neurons in their brains. This is empathy – the ability to put yourself in the shoes of another. He also explains the evolution of empathy as human beings progressed from the days of the caveman through the Industrial Revolution. His explanation suggests that the next evolutionary step may be a global Empathic Civilization, due to the improvements in technology and communication. I must admit that after years of watching the news, reading the newspaper, and watching “The Soup” on E, I have become a tad cynical about the direction the human race in taking. However, Mr.Rifkin explains how the human species in not a lost cause. In fact, our response to the earthquake in Haiti only proves that we are willing to come together to help our fellow man when he needs us. We can put aside our differences in race, religion, and economic status, because we feel empathy for those who died, who survived, and who lost their homes. This reaction, in my humble opinion, is a rarity and it needs to occur everywhere and it needs to occur all the time – in school, at work, at the baseball game, in the mall, between spouses, and between parents and their children. If a person would only stop and look through the eyes of another before they speak or act, things would drastically change for the better. What can you do in your own personal life to bring us together as an Emphatic Civilization instead of a materialistic, narcissistic one?
Vocabulary from video
Empathy, Theology, Detribalize, Narcissism, Annihilate, Biosphere, Visceral, Sojourner, Repressed, Shibboleth, Assumption, Neuron, Serendipity, Psychology, Biology, Utilitarianism, Phenomenon, Solidarity, Utopia, Serf
Questions to answer
1 – Explain how increasing selfhood assists in increasing empathic development?
2 – Why does the speaker say there cannot be empathy in heaven?
3 – Explain the evolution of empathy? (Blood ties – Theological Consciousness – Nation State)
4 – How does the human response to the earthquake in Haiti discredit the notion that human beings are all materialistic, narcissistic beings?
5 – How does (should) the idea of Adam and Eve reinforce the idea of a worldwide emphatic solution?
6 – How does bad parenting, poor educational systems, bad business practices, and unreliable and corrupt government entities repress and cause narcissism, materialism, violence, and aggression?
7 – What we can we do in our own lives (in our own town) to create an Emphatic Civilization?
