TED Community » Seung Chan Lim

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An idea worth spreading

The act of making is not about creativity or innovation, but rather a challenge to empathize with others different from ourselves. That other may be a fellow human being, or it could be a character in a story, a piece of wood, or even your own body. We often think we know them, but really... have no idea.

To make is to realize empathy. It is to develop not only our knowledge and technology, but also our identity. It is at the heart of what it means to be. It is a human right.

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• A comment on Conversation: Using the most logical and simple language versus one as complicated and illogical as English.

  Feb 28 2012: Chinese is great, but very difficult to learn because of the sheer number of characters to learn and memorize. It is a fantastically poetic language in that you can take any character and ponder and interpret its deeper meanings till the cows come home.
  
  Koreans used Chinese to communicate for the longest time, until King Sejong invented the Korean language to help normal people communicate with one another. Most people didn't have the time or patience to learn Chinese because they had things to do like farming, metalsmithing, etc... and feeding the family. :)
  
  Given what you're trying to do, which is more phonetic, I'd suggest you look at Korean, because King Sejong thought very much like you did. Why can things be written and pronounced without any confusion? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_language

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 28 2012: Ha ha, yeah I should do that. :D

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 26 2012: Ah, I didn't realize you had to be sensitive to your bandwidth usage. Sorry about that, I was being insensitive.
  
  Your critique of the piano track is spot on. I realized that after I had posted the video. Live and learn, I guess. :) All subsequent videos I've made that explains the idea in more detail used much more subtle sound track.

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 26 2012: Yes, that's great that you can have empathy for plants when other people think they cannot.
  
  That's my point. People have different capacity to empathize. Some people can empathize with objects. :)
  
  When I am programming the computer I feel one with the computer, I can see everything from their perspective. The thing is I couldn't always do this, I trained to do it because I kept practicing programming. And after a decade or so of practice it becomes quite natural to do it.
  
  I may have mislead you, but I don't mean this to be an intellectual exercise in defining the word empathy, but rather it's all about how we feel in relationship to others.

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 25 2012: Hi Ken! Did you watch the video? http://vimeo.com/36629796
  
  The only way I've been able to explain what I am trying to say is with a story, and the video tells that story.
  
  I don't disagree with anything you're saying, yet you make it sound as if you're disagreeing, so all I'm trying to do is resolve the discrepancies.

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 25 2012: Also, what you said about the material telling you what to do is something that can only happen when you have empathy.
  
  The way we make sense of the world is through the memory of our past experiences mediated through our body. Some scientists are now starting to hypothesize that even mathematics may have its roots in the physical experience mediated through the body ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Mathematics_Comes_From ).
  
  So at the end of the day, the only way we understand something is through what we generically call our feelings, although I prefer the word embodied knowledge, though.

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 25 2012: :) ha ha!
  
  This is fantastic. We are having an empathic conversation right now. We're trying to empathize with what the disconnect is that makes the two perspectives seem different.
  
  I am not claiming anything about the object having feelings, I'm only talking about how you feel in relation to others, regardless of whether they are animate or inanimate.
  
  Things get very fuzzy when we start talking about what a soul is. Could you extend your definition of empathy to other animals like cats, dogs, horses? An insect? How about living plants like trees? Are trees animate or inanimate? Is an imaginary character? What does it mean for something to have a soul? Why is it that some people feel a sense of deep resonance in front of a piece of abstract painting? At what point do you start to say that something is alive/dead or has a soul or doesn't have a soul? Can we really completely eliminate our tendency to project?
  
  The English word for empathy may be new, but in East Asian countries like China, Japan, and Korea the word has been around since the dawn of time. The emphasis on the relationship between people, people and matter, people and everything is at the heart of what it means to be a human being. The very Chinese word for human being when translated literally is "The space between people" or "The relationship between people" It is never about a singular entity.
  
  Though, I would like to steer us away from empathy and toward the conscious act of empathizing. These are two different things. Reflexive use of empathy requires little imagination. We yawn when someone else yawns. That's a reflexive use of empathy. What I'm interested in is a _conscious_ use of empathy. The _act_ of empathizing as I describe in the video about my interaction with my bipolar friend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E15sYx-cpso
  
  If we are consciously trying to empathize with everything we come across, this can actually bring about not only a sustainable way of living, but also world peace.

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 25 2012: So if we disagree on the definition of empathy, that's fine. We can move on to another conversation.
  
  But if you want to have a conversation about the idea I am proposing, _just_ for the sake of this particular conversation, I would love it if you could use the definition I propose and explore what we can both learn from the conversation.
  
  The point of a conversation I am proposing is not whether we can agree or disagree, but rather what can we learn about each other through the conversation. Having a conversation just so we find out if we agree or disagree in this particular context is the least interesting use of my time.
  
  I talk more about the definition of empathy I propose here: http://vimeo.com/36629754

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 25 2012: Yes, now were' having a conversation! :)
  
  Our general study of human being's capacity to empathize has only recently (60s) become a subject of interest for many scientists. And only very recently (90s) become a subject of neurological testing, etc..
  
  My thesis is that we are capable of empathizing with just about anything we choose to. Some are easier to empathize than others because there's a lot of attributes shared. (people whom we share values with, people who look like us, people who like things we like, etc... ) Some are harder to empathize because there needs to be a lot of layers of translation. (people who we don't share values with, people who look different from us, people who don't like things we like, etc..)
  
  But if my own experience is of any testament (i.e. having moved across disciplines from music to science to business to design to art) it's a matter of how much we care to empathize, not a lack of potential.
  
  And now here's where it gets really interesting...
  
  The subject of our ability to empathize goes way beyond other human beings.
  
  What many artists do is they empathize with raw materials like wood, metal, paint, clay, etc... I know this can sound bizarre at first, but that's because you think of empathizing as feeling the feelings of another person. That's not rigorous enough of a definition.
  
  When I use the word empathy, I'm really talking about an ability to viscerally imagine an other's current state of being as well as their future actions by conjuring up and synthesizing one's own embodied knowledge through a heightened awareness of the present. It has a lot to do with your own ability to imagine. And this other is anything and anyone whom we have yet to empathize with. Including even ourselves.

• A reply on Conversation: Creativity, Innovation, and Change are Side Effects of Empathizing (Please read the description before replying)

  Feb 25 2012: Hi Jessica,
  
  I have a feeling that everyone is replying to the conversation right after reading the title, and not reading the rest. :)
  
  Perhaps your definition of empathizing is a bit different from mine. I could be wrong, so please correct me if that is indeed the case.
  
  In my definition, the act of empathizing is something that can be done with an other whom you have yet to empathize with, who we don't yet fully understand. That other can be a fellow human being, a piece of wood, an imaginary character in a play, or even your own body. Even ourselves are those we have to empathize with, because we don't fully understand who we are.
  
  Did you watch the video? I go more in depth with what I mean there: https://vimeo.com/36629796
  
  Let me know if I am making my thoughts clearer. I have much to learn from everyone such that I can do that.