Empathy and rescue: science

I need to start following my own advice. I tend to wait until I have a well-thought-out long blog post that's been through multiple rewrites rather than posting the shorter notes that occur to me more often. 

The "uncanny valley" -- saw a post by David Hinson on Facebook and spent some interesting time wikitrailing it. The more robots resemble humans, the stronger the positive reaction to them -- UNTIL they look human enough to look wrong. Then there's a strong negative reaction. But THEN, as "humanness" is increased even further, a strong positive reaction reemerges. Has implications for rescue groups and community in developing empathy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

And interesting stuff on the effect of luxury goods -- among other things -- on empathy.

http://www.nationalaffairs.com/blog/detail/findings-a-daily-roundup/leader-board


And here: the chemical basis for empathy. http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/01/men_women_and_empathy.php