Jeremy Rifkin on The Epathic Civilisation

Over the lst ten years there have been some important developments in our understanding of our human selves, how we have evolved and continue to do so to connect with each other sense each other’s pain. Findings and ideas from the human fields of evolutionary biology, neuro-cognitive development and child development  are challenging the ideas that have dominated our thinking for the last two hundred and some years of our industrial age: that we are hard-wired to compete with  and dominate each other each other and that we must do so to survive or succeed.

We are  witnessing a convergence  of ideas from our scientific inquiries that is challnging our basic assumptions about human nature – and with that the nature of the instritutions we have created and how they are now a cause of many of our problems.

Empathy is not merely some mystical abstract quality but a requirement for our individual and collective survival – and a key reality with which we can all play our  part to create a better world.

from the (UK) Royal Society of Arts’ –Animate series RSAnimate

The Book

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