Mirror neurons are just the beginning of a whole range of research going on in neuropsychology and brain research and in child development that suggests that we are actually soft-wired not for aggression and violence and self interest and utilitarianism that we are actually soft-wired for sociability ‘attachment’ as John Bowlby might have said affection, companionship, and that the first drive is the drive to actually ‘belong’. It’s an empathic drive.

Empathy is the invisible hand. Empathy is what allows us to stretch our sensibility with another so that we can cohere in larger social units. To empathize is to civilize, to civilize is to empathize.

–Jeremy Rifkin