Says he favors empathy but rejects the assumption that it will always be reciprocated.
"I favor empathy, but the assumption that empathy will always be reciprocated is false"
Is empathy a problem?
Q1116 answers2024-2026
Short answer
He said you do not want misguided empathy. He agreed with the 'suicidal empathy' book: Western prosperity has come from a high-trust, high-empathy society, which helps people cooperate at scale if it is mutual.
All 6 answers, oldest to newest
He said you want empathy for people, but also for the victims of criminals; empathy only for criminals is shallow.
"you also have to have empathy for the victims of the criminals"
It shows they really lack empathy for the average taxpayer who is working hard and paying taxes.
"they really lack empathy for the average taxpayer"
Says empathy has been weaponized to destroy Western civilization.
"Empathy has been weaponized to destroy Western civilization"
Warns of the "empathy exploit": deep, thought-through empathy is good, but shallow stimulus-response empathy can be deadly to civilization.
"Empathy is good and right when thought through (deep), but can be deadly to civilization when simply stimulus-response (shallow)."
He said you do not want misguided empathy. He agreed with the 'suicidal empathy' book: Western prosperity has come from a high-trust, high-empathy society, which helps people cooperate at scale if it is mutual. It goes wrong if your theory of mind is incorrect and you assume everyone is like yourself — peoples and cultures have very different views.
"you don't want to have misguided empathy."