Empathy is in short supply these days. And the forces that are preventing us from feeling, consistently and coherently, are only getting stronger. How can we make people care? Empathy. The ability to understand what others are feeling. That which (probably used to) separate us from the animals. Empathy. A core part of every undergrad’s philosophy theses. Empathy. Why we cried at E.T. Empathy. Because we wonder if they know it’s Christmas time at all! We are all suffering from empathy deficit disorder, but who can blame us? From every angle, in every country, we are assaulted with stories, both good and bad—currently mainly bad—that extract us from the tedium of our day-to-day life into an endorphin-fuelled drip feed of distraction. We all know this. That is “today.” “Today” is a melange of critical thumping, impassioned pleading...