The Errant Æsthete

New proof of “mirror neurons” explains why we experience the grief and joy of others, and maybe why humans are, after all, altruistic. No touchy-feely stuff here - we’re talking hard core science. Before the discovery of mirror neurons, cognitive scientists assumed that we gained access to the feelings of others by theorizing about them. Now we know that a direct experience is responsible for much of what we thought was computation, speculation, memory or inference. “We are hard-wired to feel what others experience as if it were happening to us,” … “We used to say, metaphorically, that ‘I can feel another’s pain.’ But now we know that my mirror neurons can literally feel your pain.” SALON