Empathy and “Star Wars”

The Empathic Civilization is a video narrated by Jeremy Rifkin. In the clip he speaks about Empathy, in other words the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Rifkin states that the human race is soft wired to be empathic, social and affectionate, and yet at times we are aggressive, violent and selfish. Selfhood and emphatic development go hand in hand. Speaking of hands, in the video there are little doodles made on a dry erase board while Rifkin speaks; and at one point he says that “Empathy is like an invisible hand” and then there was a sketch made of a big hand holding onto the world. The visuals were defiantly intriguing and if anything added to the presentation.

The second video is by Michio Kaku: Will Mankind Destroy Itself? Kaku has very interesting ideas on development of civilization within the next 100 years. According to Kaku we are a type zero civilization at the moment, but we will be able to transition and transform into a type 1, 2, or even 3 civilization. A type 1 civilization is planetary and described by Kaku as something out of Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. A type 2 civilization is immortal and he related it to “Star Wars.” Finally a type 3 civilization is galactic like “The Empire Strikes Back.” Kaku is convicted that he sees the beginnings of a type 1 culture all around us. Kaku sees the Internet for example as a telephone system, and he even sees English as a type 1 langue.  

As previously mentioned, Kaku sees the birth of the Internet as a telephone system. My parents remind me only a weekly basis how lucky and spoiled my generation is because of our access to the Internet. They’ll say something along the lines of “back when I was your age we only had books and the librarian was our best friend.” How quickly they forget that the World Wide Web was not put into place until 1993, just two year before I was born. In fact, I practically grew up with no Internet. I don’t remember the very first time I used a computer or when I first went onto Google or Yahoo, but I think I was around nine or even ten. Therefore, I have only really been using computer and the Internet for about half my life. Now I cannot imagine life with out the Internet, which is sad but true. It is a truly magnificent invention. I can speak to friends across the ocean; I can buy a dress from California and have it delivered to my doorstep with out making a single human transaction. I can share photos with friends and family and watch millions of videos all in one place, the Internet. And who knows where it will bring this type zero civilization next!