Because of mirror neurons human community is more successful as well. A human community only needs to be able to communicate to each other for there to be community. We don’t have to be physically present. Certainly there is more influence on a community if there is a physical presence, but such presence is not necessary for experiences to be passed on. Not only do we have books, but audio, video, and the most effective experiencing sharing communication—the combination of audio and video. Through television and film, we can take the experience of others and share it, participate in it. Because of the first half hour of Saving Private Ryan, we can all have some knowledge of war, even if we never had been on a battlefield ourselves. Because of United 93, millions of us have had the experience of a terrorist taking our plane and the experience of us knowing that we were about to die. Perhaps these are experiences we did not want to have, but they are “real” in our minds, we can remember them, and we can call up the emotions we felt when we saw our fellow passengers call their loved ones to say goodbye. We were never there, but it has become a part of the stored consciousness of the human community, even as the travels of Odysseus have.
And this shared experience is where we get our morality from as well. The basic foundation of morality is threefold: a. We make our own decisions. We decide for ourselves what we do, we are individuals and we have free will. b. We are responsible for our actions. If we do something, we are responsible for it. If we do something wrong, we are responsible to fix it, as best we can. But the third foundation has to do with community—“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
This final principle, which is the foundation for the philosophy of ethics is arguably the most important. It is a communal responsibility. A recognition that other humans exist on the same level as oneself, and experiences the same kinds of emotions and strengths and weaknesses as oneself does. It assumes a connection between oneself and every single other person that exists on the planet, even a complete stranger. It says that even if you have met a person for the first time, there is still a shared communal experience that you both can agree on.
This is an amazing statement in a world before knowledge of mirror neurons. It is a mystical unity, a shared origin, but one way or the other, no one denies the common experience we all have. If we have a common experience, this means that we know what another needs just as much as we know ourselves. Once again, we may miss on the specifics. As hungry as I might be, if a Korean man tried to feed me kim shi, I would have to refuse. But if I was starving, he would be right to try to give me food—we have that common experience. And if I was starving, that knowledge of my need gives the Korean man a responsibility to try to feed me something. He may do it misguidedly, but do it he must.
Why? Because of compassion. Com-passion means to “feel with”. It is a basic description of what mirror neurons do. Thus, compassion isn’t just something that “nice” people do. It is something we all do. It is built into us. It is part of our success as human beings—as individuals. Without this empathy, we could succeed at nothing.
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