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The question is purely theoretical as I'm not aware of a solution to do this, but I have been thinking about what really need to be at a societal/cognitive level to tackle humanity issues such as conflicts/war.

I reckon many problems rise for the lack of tolerance due to a lack unerstanding of each other experiences and thinking (somewhat related to the Theory of mind and Mirror neuron).

Question

What will be the result of:

  1. Increasing people's empathy?
  2. bonus: Decreasing said empathy?

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    $\begingroup$ Hi Édouard. Maybe flesh the question out a bit with some context, and try to narrow down what the question applies to, as it may be too broad a question as is. $\endgroup$
    – Lu22
    Dec 9, 2016 at 8:31

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  1. Increasing empathy would lead to a slow down in technological advancement as conflict is a major driver of new tech. With increased empathy conflict would occur less often due to being able to "Put ones self in another's shoes". Obviously this would depend on whether mankind is more motivated by empathy or greed.

  2. Decrease in empathy would lead would lead to the rise of greed and violence to an unheard of level. The strong are the victors would become the norm in this type of world.

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