Are We Selfish Individuals or an Empathic Society? Answer Could Determine Whether We Have a Future

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Tarcher/Penguin / By Jeremy Rifkin

Are We Selfish Individuals or an Empathic Society? The Answer Could Determine Whether We Have a Future
The industrial age built on and propelled by fossil fuels is coming to an end. What replaces it is at the center of our fight for survival.

March 27, 2010 |


Editor's Note: AlterNet has launched its new Vision section this week, to help grapple with the unprecedented challenges of our time. Every day, we'll have a new vision article on our front page -- Subscribe to our weekly Vision newsletter to stay on top of the coverage.

The following is an adapted excerpt from Jeremy Rifkin's new book, 'The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis' (Tarcher/Penguin; January 2010).


Two spectacular failures, separated by only 18 months, marked the end of the modern era. In July 2008, the price of oil on world markets peaked at $147/ barrel, inflation soared, the price of everything from food to gasoline skyrocketed, and the global economic engine shut off. Growing demand in the developed nations, as well as in China, India, and other emerging economies, for diminishing fossil fuels precipitated the crisis. Purchasing power plummeted and the global economy collapsed. That was the earthquake that tore asunder the industrial age built on and propelled by fossil fuels. The failure of the financial markets two months later was merely the aftershock. The fossil fuel energies that make up the industrial way of life are sunsetting and the industrial infrastructure is now on life support.

In December 2009, world leaders from 192 countries assembled in Copenhagen to address the question of how to handle the accumulated entropy bill of the fossil fuel based industrial revolution-the spent C0₂ that is heating up the planet and careening the earth into a catastrophic shift in climate. After years of preparation, the negotiations broke down and world leaders were unable to reach a formal accord.

Neither the world's political or business leaders anticipated the economic debacle of July 2008, nor were they able to cobble together a sufficient plan for economic recovery in the months since. They were equally inept at addressing the issue of climate change, despite the fact that the scientific community warns that is poses the greatest threat to our species in its history, that we are running out of time, and that we may even be facing the prospect of our own extinction.

The problem runs deeper than the issue of finding new ways to regulate the market or imposing legally binding global green house gas emission reduction targets. The real crisis lies in the set of assumptions about human nature that governs the behavior of world leaders -- assumptions that were spawned during the Enlightenment more than 200 years ago at the dawn of the modern market economy and the emergence of the nation state era. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/vision/146196/are_we_selfish_individuals_or_an_empathic_society_the_answer_could_determine_whether_we_have_a_future

[chillspike]

1. I have this book in the queue...

It's next on my reading list after I finish "Hot, Flat and Crowded.."

Read and watched a lot on The Empathic Civilization on the internet, including a live interview with author Jeremy Rifkin.

I have a feeling this book is going to be a real game changer and positive and unstoppable force for our side.

I urge everyone to read it. I think, when its message starts to seep in to the culture, it's going to blow the conservatives off the map.

[chillspike]

2. I might also add...

...that, from all indications, this book indirectly addresses the core problems and neurosis of the conservative thought process and unworkable world view.

[stray cat]

3. Progressives and conservative both have their blind spots where empathy of any sort is is rare

Empathy isn't much if you are only empathetic to those you like or agree with.

[applegrove]

9. I have this book on my night table.

[Gman2]

4. Empathy is not a set value. Hypervigilance blocks it.

That is why rethugs scream the sky is falling, so you will circle your wagons, and shoot all your weak family members.

[tom_paine]

5. Selfish individuals - no future - that's my guess

Just look at hat has happened in the American Empire in the last 40 years.

What it comes down to is that the Rich always find a way to ally with the ignorant, gullible, mean, and selfish to make sure that any empathetic societal aspects get taken back down almost as soon as they are up.

Totalitarianism the snake sheds it's skin and is always (so it seems) completely successful in it's new skin.

Again, just look at our Empire in the last 40 years. Now the Teabaggers "Nazis" have gotten around to accusing the Liberals "Jews" of doing what they themselves are doing - which is decimating Liberty and establishing the latest form of totalitarianism.

[Hestia]

6. I was just reading an article from NPR "The Aging Brain Is Less Quick, But More Shrewd"

The Aging Brain Is Less Quick, But More Shrewd
by Michelle Trudeau

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124118077&sc=nl&cc=es-20100328



The Older, But Wiser, Brain

But Small has found that it's not all bad news. He points to a continued improvement in complex reasoning skills as we enter middle age. Small suggests that this increase may be due to a process in the brain called "myelination." Myelin is the insulation wrapped around brain cells that increases their conductivity — the speed with which information travels from brain cell to brain cell. And the myelination doesn't reach its peak until middle age. By this point, says Small, "the neuro-circuits fire more rapidly, as if you're going from dial-up to DSL." Complex reasoning skills improve, and we're able to anticipate problems and reason things out better than when we were young.

And, Small adds, there's another area of improvement as we age: empathy — the ability to understand the emotional point of view of another. Empathy increases as we age.

[Demeter]

8. Not That I've Noticed

As people age, they remain what they were are age 20, only more so. The weaker aspects of their personality wither away. If they were selfish narcissists at 20, they are ever so much more so with every decade.

It is a rare individual who takes up a new personality skill set in adulthood.

[yurbud]

7. kick

[girl gone mad]

10. Some empathic individuals.,

in a society dominated by the selfish.

:shrug: