From “His Master’s Voice” by Stanislaw Lem, translation mine:
The animal is chained by all its senses to the here and now, while a human can detach themselves, remember, empathize with others, imagine their condition, their feelings… except, fortunately, that’s not true. In our attempts at such imitation we imagine—dimly, vaguely—only ourselves. What would happen to us if we could actually empathize with others, feel exactly what they feel, suffer in their place? People’s woes, fears, pains disappear with death, there remains no trace of the rises and falls, orgasms and tortures—and that is an invaluable gift of evolution which made us akin to animals. If every miserable, tormented person left behind just one atom of their feelings, if just a spark could run from one person to another, the world would overflow with a scream torn forcefully from the guts.
From “His Master’s Voice” by Stanislaw Lem, translation mine:
That’s intense. Thanks!