“Empathy” is overloaded, conflating social reasoning, shared feeling, and compassion. Reason and compassion are good. Shared feeling is important, but flawed and overemphasized.
Yeah, I thought about it. The problem is that while "psychopathy" is a useful concept, I'm just not convinced that "sociopathy" carves reality at the joints. I think it's good that it doesn't have a Wikipedia page, for example.
Some people use the word as a synonym for psychopathy, some use it as a synonym for ASPD, and some use it to refer to something like ASPD that's the result of childhood trauma. I basically think it's good to abandon the word to reduce confusion, and since my essay is primarily about empathy rather than psycopathy, I didn't think it was worth getting into.
That book seems to be debunking points i’ve never heard anyone make - fringe. Mirror neurons are real and explain empathy better than anything else. We can ignore the rest unless it springs from that well of actual knowledge.
The neocortex is extremely homogeneous/regular. Neural circuits in the visual cortex are nearly identical to those in the prefrontal cortex. We're mostly doing generative pattern recognition, all the way up.
One possible pattern you can recognize is an object like an apple. Another pattern that people can recognize is an action, like eating. Relevant neurons activate when the pattern is detected. Mirror neurons are basically just action detectors, activating in response to someone doing a type of action (regardless of who is acting). These neurons exist, but characterizing them as mirror neurons is unhelpful. They are doing the same thing that other neurons are doing.
Empathy builds on generative pattern matching, but it's an extreme oversimplification to equate it with the neural circuits that notice actions. Noticing that "waving" is a thing, whether you do it or someone else does it, does not explain the whole of empathy. As long as we're on the layer of cognitive science, for example, it seems like a mistake not to discuss the role of the amygdala.
Mirror neurons aren't only reflective of external experience, but anticipatory as well, even of experiences you've never had, when you imagine bungee jumping, for instance. They “mirror” what your body would expect to experience, and are the basis of empathy as a necessary component of theory of mind; they are not empathy per-se.
Very good, maybe explain psychopathy vs. sociopathy a bit?
Yeah, I thought about it. The problem is that while "psychopathy" is a useful concept, I'm just not convinced that "sociopathy" carves reality at the joints. I think it's good that it doesn't have a Wikipedia page, for example.
Some people use the word as a synonym for psychopathy, some use it as a synonym for ASPD, and some use it to refer to something like ASPD that's the result of childhood trauma. I basically think it's good to abandon the word to reduce confusion, and since my essay is primarily about empathy rather than psycopathy, I didn't think it was worth getting into.
Fair enough, might want to add a footnote about it
empathy = mirror neurons, developed as part of the theory of mind necessary for social cohesion
"Mirror neurons" is not a good concept. I left them out intentionally, though I should have perhaps put in a footnote about them.
https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Mirror-Neurons-Neuroscience-Communication/dp/0393089614
That book seems to be debunking points i’ve never heard anyone make - fringe. Mirror neurons are real and explain empathy better than anything else. We can ignore the rest unless it springs from that well of actual knowledge.
The neocortex is extremely homogeneous/regular. Neural circuits in the visual cortex are nearly identical to those in the prefrontal cortex. We're mostly doing generative pattern recognition, all the way up.
One possible pattern you can recognize is an object like an apple. Another pattern that people can recognize is an action, like eating. Relevant neurons activate when the pattern is detected. Mirror neurons are basically just action detectors, activating in response to someone doing a type of action (regardless of who is acting). These neurons exist, but characterizing them as mirror neurons is unhelpful. They are doing the same thing that other neurons are doing.
Empathy builds on generative pattern matching, but it's an extreme oversimplification to equate it with the neural circuits that notice actions. Noticing that "waving" is a thing, whether you do it or someone else does it, does not explain the whole of empathy. As long as we're on the layer of cognitive science, for example, it seems like a mistake not to discuss the role of the amygdala.
Mirror neurons aren't only reflective of external experience, but anticipatory as well, even of experiences you've never had, when you imagine bungee jumping, for instance. They “mirror” what your body would expect to experience, and are the basis of empathy as a necessary component of theory of mind; they are not empathy per-se.