I used empathy as shorthand for seeing other people as NPCs. It’s the dark side of the spotlight effect. Everyone has that impulse, just like racist thoughts

I used empathy as shorthand for seeing other people as NPCs. It’s the dark side of the spotlight effect. Everyone has that impulse, just like racist thoughts and many other types of bias. One needs to work to really see others as full human beings with thoughts and values unlike your own—-it doesn’t happen automatically; the automatic impulse is to see difference as a defect when compared to the ideal person, who is of course “Me.”