The Death Of Empathy

With Apologies to Jonathan Swift

Let's face it. Empathy is inconvenient.

In fact, a leading billionaire has famously stated that a "fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy."

Indeed it is.

More likely, a fundamental weakness of any civilization is empathy. In fact, empathy is so foundational to civilization that to strengthen civilization, we must remove this rotten pillar once and for all.

How?

First (unfortunately): empathy appears to have genetic roots. There are indications that we have "empathy genes." Moreover, there are many different pathways in our brains that are activated when we are empathic toward someone.

Still, there are empathy free individuals. Our leading billionaire is one. He has, naturally, qualified his words, and in this I can agree with him -- you must set boundaries and avoid the trap of suicidal empathy, in which you are consumed by the care of others to the point where you fail to take care of yourself. So his disavowal of empathy is perhaps qualified -- some shreds of empathy may squat within him still.

But his actions -- which one may reasonably assume have created suffering around the world, through the destruction of social services inconvenient to his profit motives -- these actions belie his professed belief in these boundaries. Or, to be charitable, we can acknowledge that he has wisely set empathic boundaries. However, his empathy certainly does not extend to whole swathes of people deemed inferior, through education, class or creed. We might call this "colonialist empathy" -- caring for others, but recognizing that your own superiority demands you impose the better angels of your nature upon the inferior angels of theirs, through extraction of lands, materials, freedoms, or (regrettably I'm sure) of lives. All in the name of imposing a stronger (and, one might guess, non-Western) civilization upon them and declaring it to be good.

Empathy can be weaponized, so the clever argument goes. This over-used word suggests a world in which ploughshares no longer exist, a world in which everything has been made into swords. In this world, people who have the misfortune of living in the wrong places can be marginalized, relocated, or disappeared. All in the name of creating a better playground in which the nonmarginalized players can frolic while extracting. No room for empathy here. Its inconvenient intrusion slows the inevitable progress of the strong dominating the weak. That is, after all, pure nature. Human nature, saddled with its annoying empathy, has no place here.

Poor empathy. Pity its misuse. Best to discard it altogether.

We can do it, though it will take some time.

Here's how. 

Start with the children. Actually, start with infants. When your infant cries, ignore it. Note the appropriate pronoun here. You must treat your infant as an "it." We needn’t concern ourselves with gender. We can be truly gender neutral.

As your child grows, continue to ignore it. If you are skilled at this, you can abuse it as well. I'd caution you to be subtle, though -- no need to get Child Protective Services all riled. Of course, if you are a pedophile, that's helpful, because you can't control those impulses. And, if you're privileged, why should you? You're entitled to indulgence -- with your own, or other children. Again, gender doesn't matter.

But I digress. Pedophiles are unfortunate souls, who have some wiring deficiencies of their own. But we should disregard them and ignore their behavior. Why? Because we might express pity for pedophiles and try to find them help. Or, we might be disgusted by their behavior, feel compassion for their victims and try to find help for those victims. Either way, it's a losing proposition. Because, unfortunately, if we give in to these feelings, we will have shown that we can put ourselves in their situation. And that's empathy. Drat. So ignore pedophiles and ignore their victims -- and, while you're at it, ignore rapists and their victims, or common criminals and their victims, or crypto criminals and their victims, or insurance scammers and their victims, or polluters and their victims… As you can see, the list is endless.

Back to the children. Early in life, children begin to develop theory of mind. This is the ability to see others as having independent thoughts and emotions. Theory of mind is part of the empathic construct. To destroy empathy, we have to instill in our children, very early on, the notion that other people do not matter. We have to ensure that these malleable things we've created are molded to understand that only their own actions, thoughts and emotions are valid.

Let's call this the "Theory of I."

To instill Theory of I into our children, we must behave toward one another while disregarding the other's state of mind, emotional destress, what have you. None of that is relevant. If, for example, we burn the roast, we needn't apologize. The appropriate response is to shrug.

Shrugging is a key behavior. When something awful happens to someone -- say, a child gets pushed into a mud puddle or punched on the playground, the appropriate molding behavior we must demonstrate to our own child is merely to shrug. None of that matters. None of that is "I."

Once your children have substituted Theory of I for theory of mind, you can set about deconstructing empathy more methodically. It will be difficult. You must practice the art of ignoring. If your child is injured, you tell them that that's their problem. That they must toughen up. That expressing pain or emotions, while valid, must end at the boundary of I. Don't go looking for anyone else to help. Pull yourself up. If you fall off your bike and scrape your knee, that's your business.

What you are teaching your children is simple, really. You don't want them to cry over the death of a fly; instead, you want them to pull the wings off flies to make them better walkers.

As you can see, this is a long process and has many pitfalls. But if successful, you will have reared children that don't care about you, about other kids, about adults, about teachers -- indeed, about anyone else. They will extend their Theory of I to the very boundaries of the universe. Their Theory of I will, if you need to be Biblical about it, give them dominion over all other humans and animals. Because none of those other creatures matter.

So what can your child become? What career beckons?

I first thought that certain careers would be closed off. But I don't think that's the case. I think that each career choice can be molded to suit the Theory of I individual. For example: 

• Teachers. Teach the subject. Limit the subjects to the impersonal. Mathematics does well here, as does computer science. Teach finance, and those parts of economics that resolve themselves into equations. Teach GDP, interest rates, wealth accumulation, mergers and acquisitions. Treat labor as a thing, or at most, a squishy beast, and the people that may comprise it as costs, not investments. As a matter of fact, teach investment in fiat and crypto currencies. Teach shell companies. Teach corruption as opportunity, tax evasion as an expression of cleverness. But above all, avoid effects upon people, other than as goads to stimulate reactions this way or that.

• Medical providers. Do not use the word “care.” Instead, use "medical management." Manage patients as problems, as clinical challenges if you're feeling somewhat noble (but beware that you are feeling anything), as income sources (if you've learned from your teachers — see above). Solve problems with drugs and tests. Pretend to be worried or concerned. After all, pretension is the highest expression of Theory of I. If the appearance of concern gives the patient comfort, that's fine. And if not, that's fine, too. The patient is your paying guest. And a condition cured is a lost profit opportunity.

• Insurers. No need to go into details here. Just continue doing the fine work many of you already do. Deny all claims until submitted multiple times, and if the applicant is worn down, you win.

• Manufacturers. Innovate to monetize. Convince your targets that they need what you provide. Treat products and services as profit opportunities and customers as the irritants you must minimally tolerate in order to part their cash from them. Plan for obsolescence. Restyle for the heck of it. Take "durable" out of durable goods.

There are many different career types out there. Try for yourself. Pick one and reshape its contours by discarding the annoyance of empathy. If you prosper, do not share your riches; rather, flaunt them instead. Your achievements, after all, are solely your own. And your gold is yours to keep.

And if your career shatters, or your health falters, and you suffer misfortune or disease, remember that such trials strengthen you. Do no one the disservice of burdening them with your care. Sicken and die alone. Leave nothing lasting but dust.

Before leaving this topic, we should also apply the Theory of I to the arts. A world without empathy does not admit of artistry, except for the art of the deal; or, better, the art of deception and the satisfaction that attends pulling something over someone else. In politics, as in sales, limit art to the acquisition of your targets' votes or coin.

We cannot afford literature, at least not that type which writers create by putting themselves into their characters' shoes, by trying to feel what characters might be feeling -- hatred, joy, envy, pain, pride, sorrow, and all the rest. If you would write literature, do not allow yourself to be moved by how your characters might feel; or, even worse, by what response your readers may give. In a world without empathy, readers will not need this drivel, anyway. Reduce conflict to events, deaths to plot points, lovemaking to pornography. It is all transactional, anyway. Write for plot, not character; describe action, not scenery; movement, not settings. Let your stories go where they will and end where they will; in a non-empathic world, no one will care. We will no longer have use for poets or novelists; turn your trade to the technical journals instead.

This holds for music as well. In a world without empathy, the draw of a bow across a string, or the well-turned phrase on the piano is no different from the police siren, the car horn, or the dog whistle. Music should not take us anywhere. It should remain in the background, as a field of sterile sound indistinguishable from the hum of efficient machinery or the pounding of the jackhammer. Look not to birds for your nourishment. And above all, do not be inspired. Let your music be as flat and uninflected as the hum of a refrigerator. We will be much less distracted and much more focused on task if you did this.

For artists and sculptors, wood workers and knitters, create that which is useful. Treat color as fractured light, materials as the utilitarian stuff that it is, wood and fiber as means to a useful end. Do not put pride in your work, because pride is something you might wish would elicit a response from someone else. In a world without empathy, people will hang your art to interrupt a blank wall, use your sculptures for shade, work your well-fitted wood joints, and wear your knitted works for warmth. They will not care about what decisions, passion or purpose went into these physical things. Why should you?

Where does this leave us?

Without empathy, you may feel (again, beware) adrift. Do not worry. We have created artificial intelligence to help you. With AI, illusion is paramount, facts are fluid, and sources are random. Wisdom is a mathematic construct, and empathy may be imitated and presented to you if you must satisfy your puerile need for patience, understanding, tolerance, forbearance, forgiveness, the illusion of a kind response, or any other flawed, empathic, human reaction. You can enjoy an AI-generated empathic placebo as much as you can the warmth of a human embrace, can't you?

Once your children are taught Theory of I and grow into this non-empathic, technocratic world, you can reap the benefits that come from having thus strengthened our Western civilization.

We will have answered the question implied by our billionaire friend regarding empathy:  Will no one rid me of this meddlesome trait?

We will at last be strong, isolated, pure, abstract, emotionless, transactional, and finally, satisfyingly, both inhumane and inhuman.