The Age of Homo Empathicus

"The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis" by Jeremy Rifkin - a consultant to the EU and Professor at the Wharton School of Business - explores how empathy, a fundamental human trait, can drive societal transformation and address global crises. Rifkin argues that our capacity for empathy—understanding and sharing the feelings of others—is a crucial factor in human evolution and could be key to solving current challenges like climate change, economic inequality, and political instability.

Rifkin teaches we have evolved from homo-sapiens in homo-empathicus the last 200,000 years, not on a genetic level but on a social level. The wiring of our brains have progressively focused more towards sociability thanks to mirror neurons, a important source for our empathy.

“Empathy is the opposite of Utopia. [...] Empathy is grounded in the acknowledgement of death and the celebration of life and rooting for each other to flourish and be. It’s based on our frailty and imperfections. So when we are talking about building an empathetic civilization we are not talking about utopia, we are talking about the ability of humanity to show solidarity not only with each other but with our fellow creatures who have a one and only life on this planet. We are homo-empathicus.”

The book traces the historical development of empathy, from its origins in early human societies to its role in shaping modern civilizations. Rifkin emphasizes that as societies become more interconnected through technology and globalization, the need for a global empathic consciousness becomes more urgent. He suggests that fostering empathy on a global scale could lead to more compassionate policies and cooperative international relations, ultimately helping humanity build a more sustainable and equitable future.

According to his research interconnecting tech like radio and the internet are a major drive for the telescoping of our emphatic ability to extend over the world and a important factor in societal advancements.

For example we've come from identifying and empathizing with only blood/religious/state ties towards the realization we are interconnected with everything alive as 1 family on 1 planet.

The rapid response of the world to help during natural/manmade disasters, crowdfunding, increasing availability of information are a few other examples of our social evolution in motion. According to Rifkin, to empathize is to civilize, and to civilize is to empathize and our emphatic drive is to actually belong.