[Stonemason]

Introduction:

"This book presents a new interpretation of the history of civilisation by looking at the empathic evolution of the human race and the profound ways it has shaped our development and will likely decide our fate as a species.

A radical new view of human nature is emerging in the biological and cognitive sciences and creating controversy in intellectual circles, the business community, and government. Recent discoveries in brain science and child development are forcing us to rethink the long-held belief that human beings are, by nature, aggresssive, materialistic, utilitarian, and self-interested. The dawning realisation that we are a fundamentally empathic species has profound and far-reaching consequences for society.

...viewing economic history from an empathic lens allows us to uncover rich new strands of the human narrative that lay previously hidden. The result is a new social tapestry-The Emapthic Civilisation-woven from a wide range of fields, including literature and the arts, theology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, and communications theory.

At the very core of the human story is the paradoxical relationship between empathy and entropy. Throughout history new energy regimes have converged with new communication revolutions, creating ever more complex societies. More technologically advanced civilisations, in turn, have brought diverse people together, heightened empathic sensitivity, and expanded human consciousness. But these increasingly more complicated milieus require more extensive energy use and speed us toward resource depletion.

The irony is that our growing empathic awareness has been made possible by an ever-greater consumption of the Earth's energy and other resources, resulting in a dramatic deterioration of the health of the planet.

We now face the haunting prospect of approaching global empathy in a highly energy-intensive, interconnected world, riding on the back of an escalating entropy bill that now threatens catastrophic climate change and our very existance. Resovling the empathy/entrophy paradox will likely by the critical test of our specie's ability to survive and flourish on Earth in the future. This will neccessitate a fundamental rethinking of our philosophical, economic, and social models.

Toward this end, the book begins with an analysis of the empathy/entropy conundrum and the central role this unlikely dynamic has played in determining the direction of human history. Part I is given over to an examination of the new view of human nature that is emerging in the natural and social sciences and in the humanities, with the discovery of Homo empathicus. Part II is devoted to exploring the empathic surges and the great transformations in consciousness that have accompanied each more complex energy-consuming civilisation, with the aim of providing a new rendering of human history and the meaning of human existance. Part III reports on the current race to global peak empathy against the backdrop of an ever-quickening entropic destruction of the Earth's biosphere. Finally, we turn our attention to the fledgling Third Industrial Revolution that is ushering in a new era of "distributed capitalism" and the beginning of biosphere consciousness. We are on the cusp, I believe, of an epic shift into a "climax" global economy and a fundamental repositioning of human life on the planet.

The Age of Reason is being eclipsed by the Age of Empathy."

[PrestonSturges]

JR is a bad writer and a shallow thinker

[PrestonSturges]

......that quoted section was truly abysmal.

[Stonemason]

It did seem to me that the ideas were pretty crudely connected and were perhaps a shallow presentation. Have you read the book? I have not.

What things have led to your strong rejection of his ideas?

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stonemason', 'I')t did seem to me that the ideas were pretty crudely connected and were perhaps a shallow presentation. Have you read the book? I have not.

What things have led to your strong rejection of his ideas?

[BorisG]

New? Emerging? There is nothing new about these ideas. The quoted material is rather awkward regurgitation of the Peotr Kropotkin's concept put down very well some 108 years ago in Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Aid:_A_Factor_of_Evolution

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Stonemason', 'I')ntroduction:

"This book presents a new interpretation of the history of civilisation by looking at the empathic evolution of the human race and the profound ways it has shaped our development and will likely decide our fate as a species.

A radical new view of human nature is emerging in the biological and cognitive sciences and creating controversy in intellectual circles, the business community, and government. Recent discoveries in brain science and child development are forcing us to rethink the long-held belief that human beings are, by nature, aggresssive, materialistic, utilitarian, and self-interested. The dawning realisation that we are a fundamentally empathic species has profound and far-reaching consequences for society.

...viewing economic history from an empathic lens allows us to uncover rich new strands of the human narrative that lay previously hidden. The result is a new social tapestry-The Emapthic Civilisation-woven from a wide range of fields, including literature and the arts, theology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, and communications theory.

At the very core of the human story is the paradoxical relationship between empathy and entropy. Throughout history new energy regimes have converged with new communication revolutions, creating ever more complex societies. More technologically advanced civilisations, in turn, have brought diverse people together, heightened empathic sensitivity, and expanded human consciousness. But these increasingly more complicated milieus require more extensive energy use and speed us toward resource depletion.

The irony is that our growing empathic awareness has been made possible by an ever-greater consumption of the Earth's energy and other resources, resulting in a dramatic deterioration of the health of the planet.

We now face the haunting prospect of approaching global empathy in a highly energy-intensive, interconnected world, riding on the back of an escalating entropy bill that now threatens catastrophic climate change and our very existance. Resovling the empathy/entrophy paradox will likely by the critical test of our specie's ability to survive and flourish on Earth in the future. This will neccessitate a fundamental rethinking of our philosophical, economic, and social models.

Toward this end, the book begins with an analysis of the empathy/entropy conundrum and the central role this unlikely dynamic has played in determining the direction of human history. Part I is given over to an examination of the new view of human nature that is emerging in the natural and social sciences and in the humanities, with the discovery of Homo empathicus. Part II is devoted to exploring the empathic surges and the great transformations in consciousness that have accompanied each more complex energy-consuming civilisation, with the aim of providing a new rendering of human history and the meaning of human existance. Part III reports on the current race to global peak empathy against the backdrop of an ever-quickening entropic destruction of the Earth's biosphere. Finally, we turn our attention to the fledgling Third Industrial Revolution that is ushering in a new era of "distributed capitalism" and the beginning of biosphere consciousness. We are on the cusp, I believe, of an epic shift into a "climax" global economy and a fundamental repositioning of human life on the planet.

The Age of Reason is being eclipsed by the Age of Empathy."

[evilgenius]

Stonemason, you put the concept out there well. I don't know what Rifkin thinks about it, but I think I understand what you are on to. Recently I saw a television show on PBS, hosted by Alan Alda, about the human spark. Basically, what you are describing is inherent to our condition, is built into our brains. It isn't just for empathy. It also goes a long way toward our ability to see our own selves over time. It seems that in order to do that we need to perceive our selves as other people we can empathize with in either the past condition we think we remember or the future condition our brains allow us to imagine.