The natural empathy gradient from "exactly like me" to "entirely unlike me" has to be artificially reshaped at least a little before you can qualify as basic modern human.
Just as natural sensorimotor responses have to be reshaped at least a little before you can drive.
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Out-of-the-box ungoverned empathy, is a decidedly mixed blessing that's likely more harmful than helpful under conditions of modernity. It's astounding how many people treat it as a capacity born fully formed and coo over signs of empathetic behavior by puppies and babies.
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Treating "natural" empathy as an unqualified good thing is equivalent to treating the babbling gibberish of young babies as equivalent to adult language. It may be cute, but it's not an effective communication capability.
Most performative empathy is baby-cute, not effective.
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