Society needs to undergo an empathic revolution if we are to
survive as a species, says Anita Nowak of McGill University
speaking at PINC 15 in
There is a spectrum of empathy, says Nowak, with pity at one
end, empathy at the other and compassion and sympathy somewhere in
between. Pity, while being an emotional reaction to someone else's
pain, also involves an element of looking down on people -- this is
where a lot of foreign aid and paternalistic philanthropy has come
from. When we empathise, however, we recognise that we all share a
common humanity and that we are all inherently worthy. Extending
empathy, Nowak continues, is the only human emotion that expresses
equality between humans.
There was a huge breakthrough in neuroscience when it was
discovered that we are all born with the innate ability to
empathise. The neurological basis for empathy was first discovered
in macaques. Researchers were monitoring the creatures' brains with
hair-thin electrodes to study their hand-mouth functions when they
spotted activity in some neurons in the premotor cortex of the
macaques, as they watched researchers pick up nuts. What the
researchers had spotted was that their brains had reacted as if
they'd pick up the nuts themselves. This marked the discovery of mirror neurons.
"Researchers predicted mirror neurons would do for psychology
what DNA did for biology," says Nowak. While it is estimated that
the entire number of atoms in the entire universe is 10 to the
power of 80, the number of possible of neuron combinations firing
is the human brains is 10 to the power of 1 million. And with new
neural pathways discovered every day, the possibilities for
strengthening our ability to empathise are infinite.
We control the ongoing transformation of our brains by what and
how we think, so what would happen, Nowak asks, if we started
thinking more empathic thoughts and started engaging in more
empathic action? This action element is vital she believes; we must
engage with empathy "not as spectators, but as fully involved
The reason to do this is that the state of society today makes
"the moral imperative to act explicit", she says. "We are facing a
set of social and environmental crises that are unprecedented… we
are beset by wicked problems". Despite a growing number a
billionaires in the world, 1 in 6 in the world goes to bed hungry,
nearly 1 billion lack access to drinking water, 100 million
children not in school (60 percent of whom are girls) and there are
more people in slavery or forced labour today than were during the
African slave trade. And then, of course, there is climate change
-- "the most fundamental crisis to ever face humanity".
"Engaging in empathic action has positive implications for self
and society," says Nowak. "Being in service to others lights up the
same reward centres in the brain of cocaine, heroin and sex."
Ecstasy, she adds, could easily have been called empathy.
In the face of social and environmental injustices though, our
task now is to create a world that enables the flourishing of our
empathic selves. "I believe the time has come," Novak concludes,
"to embark on a global empathic revolution."