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> America has a real empathy problem Hypothesis: that’s a function of some kind of Dunbar’s Law thing about the population size of a country. China and India a
by peteretep 7y ago
> America has a real empathy problem
Hypothesis: that’s a function of some kind of Dunbar’s Law thing about the population size of a country. China and India as confirming examples, Japan as possibly an exception
- Mordisquitos 7y agoNot likely. Why would the groups subject to this effect be defined at the relatively artificial level of the nation state, and not at any other subnational (states or provinces) or supranational (EU or cultural sphere) level? Furthermore, watch out for confirmation bias: why is Japan a possible exception rather than a counterexample?
- usrusr 7y agoNation states provide a level of isolation that states or provinces don't, at all.
- usrusr 7y agoI share that suspicion: when you pay taxes for lifting the poor from your doorstep, it not only helps them, it also improves your own quality of life. The poor half a continent away, not so much. The same applies when you replace "paying taxes" with any other measures that reduce inequality, like a preference for level education access, a judicial system that prefers rehabilitation to vengeance, minimum health standards and so on. The dark side of this hypothesis is that it predicts that all those civilizatory achievements will increasingly come under pressure as national states become more open and integrated. It's almost a "national" and a "socialistic" idea, if you look at the terms without blending them into one. Which makes any meaningful discussion really hard.