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Means of transport have shortened the distance between towns and cities in this global world.
The information and communication technologies have shortened the distance in the transmission of information.
The scientific and technological progress has shortened the distance between our planet and the universe.
However, there is one thing in what human being has not made a historic leap like that has occurred in other aspects of science and technology in the modern ages. I mean the mental distance between the welfare of the few and the suffering of a majority.
We shorten distances to the extent that we manage to connect in a way more quickly, agile and simply. Today we can cross an ocean in hours, and know what happens in our antipodes with a single click.
However, we only experience and share the suffering of the others when we feel it very close to us. And only through empathy will get to commitment and action in advocacy of others with which we identify. It is precisely this identification what makes us feel firsthand the threat that triggers our commitment.
We have found means and tools to connect with each other, no matter how far they are physically. But there is still an astronomical distance in the minds and hearts of people. The distance that allows many to live stranger to the suffering of others, except that the misfortune of these affects the welfare of those.
Only when we bridge that mental and emotional distance, as the result of a individual process of transformation, we will be able to speak of a truly mankind progress. Perhaps the greatest challenge of modern society.
Technology has changed the way we connect to the world. Empathy will change the world.
The information and communication technologies have shortened the distance in the transmission of information.
The scientific and technological progress has shortened the distance between our planet and the universe.
However, there is one thing in what human being has not made a historic leap like that has occurred in other aspects of science and technology in the modern ages. I mean the mental distance between the welfare of the few and the suffering of a majority.
We shorten distances to the extent that we manage to connect in a way more quickly, agile and simply. Today we can cross an ocean in hours, and know what happens in our antipodes with a single click.
However, we only experience and share the suffering of the others when we feel it very close to us. And only through empathy will get to commitment and action in advocacy of others with which we identify. It is precisely this identification what makes us feel firsthand the threat that triggers our commitment.
We have found means and tools to connect with each other, no matter how far they are physically. But there is still an astronomical distance in the minds and hearts of people. The distance that allows many to live stranger to the suffering of others, except that the misfortune of these affects the welfare of those.
Only when we bridge that mental and emotional distance, as the result of a individual process of transformation, we will be able to speak of a truly mankind progress. Perhaps the greatest challenge of modern society.
Technology has changed the way we connect to the world. Empathy will change the world.
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| The good samaritan (after Delacroix) 1890 - Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Kröller-Müller Museum |
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