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Isherwood  ·  3769 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Will we ever discover new emotions?

I think we're going to start exploring the difference between empathy and sympathy and that in our exploration we'll find a deeper empathy than we knew before, all because of the internet.

We've been sympathetic for a very long time, able to acknowledge the pain of others and offer our assistance, but with the amount of instant data that's floating around it's getting easier for us to put ourselves in others' shoes and actually empathize with them.

I'm not sure if it's because we can 'cast a wider net' online and find more people like us or because the volume of exposure to different types of characters, from the rogue to the vixen to the troll, but I think those who approach the internet knowing there are people on the other end of the line are getting much more diverse interaction at a far cheaper cost than ever before.

Now I'm rambling, so let me just summarize by saying EMPATHY!