Is self-interest an inherent characteristic in humans, or is it something we can move past? Political adviser Jeremy Rifkin argues for the latter, saying that over the course of human history, humankind has extended its circle of empathy as their day-to-day world got larger and larger. Or as Rifkin, the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of 17 bestselling books, posits, “Can we reach biosphere consciousness and global empathy in time to avert planetary collapse? He also says, “The Empathic Civilization is emerging. A younger generation is fast extending its empathic embrace beyond religious affiliations and national identification to include the whole of humanity and the vast project of life that envelops the Earth.” In a sense, it would be to our best self-interest to be interested in others.

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