“Empathy is overrated—civilization advances through rational self-interest, not feelings”
Agree
- Markets work because selfishness creates mutual benefit
- Empathy scales poorly beyond immediate circles
- Emotional reasoning leads to terrible policy outcomes
- Greatest innovations came from personal ambition
Disagree
- Cooperation built every major human achievement
- Self-interest alone creates brutal dystopian societies
- Empathy is rational for long-term collective survival
- Markets require trust which requires empathy
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