[lbo-talk] Bonobo you don't

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Charles:

We discussed this mirror neuron article on Stan Goff's blog. I'd say the
qualities of the mirror neuron are the opposite of what we are looking for
in finding a physiological basis for symbolling, language and culture.
Symbolling involves a mental process of _not_ imitating , of not
representing like with like.  

Monkey see, monkey do, imitating is not the critical aspect of the human
ability to pass on enormous amounts of information from one generation to
the next through culture and language.  It is the opposite process of
representing something by something that it is not, that is critical for
getting across the death barrier between generations.


[WS:] I think you are downplaying the importance of mirror neurons and the
behavior they enable.  Mirror neurons are essential in developing empathy -
which is considered the most "human" of all emotions.  Arguably, empathy is
the foundation of all social organization and social solidarity.  Without
empathy, you would essentially have that heaven of neoliberalism, a "market
society" -  aka Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071691/ 


While we are at that, I suspect that Chicago style economists suffer from
some form of autism, which makes them empathy-blind.  According to Simon
Baron-Cohen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Baron-Cohen individuals,
especially males, with high IQ and strong systemizing ability often suffer
from empathy deficiency, which is a hallmark of autism (Asperger syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome).  Or at least it appears so
judging from their vision of "ideal society."

That goes with my general theory that conservatism is a form of mental
disorder http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/28/308/98527


Wojtek