"Hey Bill Nye, Is Human Empathy an Evolutionary Advantage?" #tuesdayswithbill | Big Think

Hi Bill. This is Trym from Norway. I was wondering how come we’re empathetic? Is it normal for species to be – I was just starting to read about Richard Dawkins' stake on it. I was wondering how you would explain it? I love the way you explain things, by the way. Thanks.

You said your name with an accent that I will interpret. Trym, I believe your name is?

Trym, tack for your question. Thank you for your question. This is cool. So why are we empathetic? Just consider what a tribe of humans would be like without empathy, without the ability to feel what someone else is feeling, without an ability to see it from another person’s point of view. It probably wouldn’t be a very successful tribe. You wouldn’t take care of each other. You probably wouldn’t divide up tasks. You do this and I’ll do that. I know that’s hard for you all. I know you’re good at that, so you do that and I’ll do this. Imagine a tribe without empathy.

So my claim, which is extraordinary at first, is not only are size and shape determined by a process of evolution, but so are our feelings. And empathy is part of that. Our ancestors without empathy were not as successful. And furthermore, while you’re on Richard Dawkins, look into primate behavior. Our ancestors – gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees – they exhibit empathetic behavior. They mourn. They take care of each other. They interact in a way that’s very much like and very similar to the way we interact. So check them out.

Check out our primate buddies and you’ll see that I think empathy is deep within us. And as to its origins, that’s a great one. I’m not sure where it came from. Like dogs like to hang out together. I’ve seen gerbils, mice, and hamsters hang out together or seem to prefer each other’s company. So I think whatever that thing is that makes you – leads you to prefer one another’s company must be connected with the ability to feel what someone else, another organism, is feeling.

It’s a great question, and it gets back to this deep thing, the nature of consciousness. Are we that different from other animals that we seem to be able to know that we are aware of our surroundings? We seem to be able to know that we’re going to die. We seem to be able to know what another one of our fellow humans is feeling or thinking. Where did that come from?

These are deep neurological questions that perhaps you will be the neuroscientist who answers this problem, and we could then create ways to help each other live better lives. And I’m not kidding. If we pass laws consistent with our understanding of empathy, our understanding of how the human brain works, and then ultimately, if you made artificial intelligence computers that had this empathetic quality, it really could do great things.

Now in science fiction, you know, whenever you create anything artificial, and things go bad, but that’s science fiction. We don’t have to do everything badly. We can make things great. That’s a great question, that man. Tack. Tune Tack.