"Despite the mounting research evidence that humans are wired for empathy and often express their empathic regard by engaging in altruistic activity, the naysayers cling to the defense that people act that way because they have learned, through past experience and conditioning, that helping another person mutes their own empathic distress and provides them a sense of relief and, on occasion, even pleasure, because they have been morally accountable. Hoffman points out that just because one feels better because he or she was able to help another in distress doesn't mean that it is the sole or even a major reason for being altruistic. The pleasure might be an unexpected by-product, but not a prime motivating factor, for engaging in altrustic behavior in the first place." [refer to study 4 for elaboration]
-Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization

Here's 5 studies and a TED talk for you. Four of the studies are for Homo Sapiens, one is for Capuchin monkeys.

Study 1:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11641621/ns/health-childrens_health/t/roots-altruism-show-babies-helping-hands/
Psychology researcher Felix Warneken, of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Enthropology, published the results of a study of toddlers exhibiting altruistic behavior far earlier than previously expected, demonstrating the biological nature of human altruism. The following video will illustrate what happened:

Study 2:
http://news.yale.edu/2007/11/21/babies-prefer-good-samaritans

Study 3:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/28/science/researchers-trace-empathy-s-roots-to-infancy.html

Study 4:
http://onthehuman.org/2009/10/empathic-concern-and-altruism-in-humans/

Study 5:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKhAd0Tyny0

TED Talk - Frans de Waal: Moral behavior in animals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJxRqTs5nk

Not so! ISIS members do have empathy, but only for a very limited sphere of family/comrades. For the rest of humanity, they show little to no empathy. This of course is illogical, incestuous madness, like something transported from the dark ages. Thanks religion, for dragging shitty bronze-age ethics into the 21st century!

If you trace back through history, there has always been empathy for tribe-mates, or family / blood-kin. Through social evolution, reason compels us to expand our sphere of empathy wider and wider. Today, empathy is commonly extended to all fellow citizens of one's nation. Not so long ago this would've been a radical idea.
The logical conclusion of this trend is that eventually, all human beings will see themselves as citizens not of a nation, but of the world. We will begin to see all our fellow humans beings as kin, who deserve our love and compassion just as much as our own sons and daughters.

Yes, exactly, of course we should. Well said my friend.

“Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity.
Patriotism is its cult... Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love,
love for one's country which is not part of one's love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship.”
-Erich Fromm, The Sane Society


Yours in compassion and solidarity,

World Citizen Beliathon



Your move, capitalists and sociopaths (insofar as there is any meaningful practical difference).