Empathy is a useful tool that allows humans (and other species) to connect and form mutually beneficial bonds, but knowing how and when to be empathic is just as important as having empathy.

Filmmaker Danfung Dennis, Bill Nye, and actor Alan Alda discuss the science of empathy and the ways that the ability can be cultivated and practiced to affect meaningful change, both on a personal and community level.

But empathy is not a cure all. Paul Bloom explains the psychological differences between empathy and compassion, and how the former can "get in the way" of some of life's crucial relationships.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT:

0:00 Intro

0:30 Bill Nye on the evolution of empathy

1:15 Alan Alda’s empathy exercise

4:52 Empathy in virtual reality

5:55 How empathy backfires

7:36 Empathy vs. compassion

​- Why are we empathetic?

- It's something that we can foster and cultivate.

- But if you sink into that feeling and get lost in it then it's no longer a tool. It's something that's working against you.

- Empathy is exhausting. It is unpleasant. It is difficult. And it makes you withdraw.

BILL NYE: Why are we empathetic? Just consider what a tribe would be like, a tribe of humans, would be like without empathy, without ability to feel what someone else is feeling, without ability to see it from another person's point of view. You 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, I'll do this. Well, I'm good at this. I know you're good at that, so you do that and I'll do this. I mean, imagine a tribe without empathy. So my claim, which is extraordinary at first, is not only are size and shape determined by the process of evolution but so are our feelings, and empathy is part of that. Our ancestors without empathy were not as successful.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices