Why do humans think? Why do you humans dream? Why do humans dedicate so much to the consumption of information, the retention of memories, and the anguish that comes with situating ourselves within a universe which seems so uncaring and yet ready to provide us with all we need to thrive?
The answer is Pattern Recognition. The machinery within your noggin' that makes you, you.
It has built EVERYTHING. But before we go universal on that subject, let's start animal.
What does the cat do with the mouse that the mouse doesn't do with itself? It sees the mouse as a separate entity with needs, wants, desires. Now, the cat's motivations here aren't noble or pure, it needs the mouse to feed itself.
But a certain type of understanding (empathy) of mice exists within the cat that the mouse itself doesn't possess.
This is the basis for a concept I've dubbed the "Cold Empathy". A blind spot in Psychological research, as we automatically see Empathy as this beautiful, warm, pleasant thing which builds communities and makes us thrive socially, rather than the necessary adaptation that came with more demanding brains demanding more efficient fuels.
A preamble to my writing would be this episode of Maya Shankar's podcast, "A slight change of plans" featuring Empathy Researcher Jamil Zaki:
Understanding the current Scientific Consensus will help you understand what the discussion I aim to bring as a B. Sc. holder in Biology & Psychology as majors, hopeful graduate student, and a little kid always fascinated with big cats, sharks, monkeys, birds of prey and all other animals that have made us wonder since the dawn of time.
Happy Thinking!
- Alaa