You get to live a happy life and don’t care about all the horrible things happening all across the world. You wouldn’t feel terrible for children getting killed in a genocide half the globe away, every day. Blissful ignorance.
My response would be no. And I suppose most responses are gonna be no, but I also don’t think anyone who already doesn’t care would take a pill to start caring. That’s an interesting concept to me.
I’m sure that what me caring does to my mental state is far worse than however good is anything it does to anyone else. But by that logic, if everyone stopped caring, how would the world look like?
I mean does it improve my ability to survive?
Like I have depression, does it make my depression go away for the duration of its effects?
Sure, maybe I’ll take it.
I mean, I still remember what empathy is from my hippocampus, and I’ll just remind myself not to be a monster…
But I guess the major downsides is that I would not longer be able to “feel” the atmosphere of a movie/tv show. No longer able to “feel” the music. “Feel” the poems I write… idk if I could even write poems anymore.
No longer be able to feel the emotions associated with my past… the nostalgia… the pain… the trauma…
I hate the trauma…
But at the same time… it reminds me who my enemies are, so I don’t make that same mistake again… so I’ll know… know to take precautions… cuz my enemy is still alive and nearby…
I need to be able to feel to finish my memoir (finish lol more like start writing it… I barely got 100 words in).
So…
idk…
temporay effects… maybe…
I wouldn’t take a permanent one…
It’s permanent.
How it affects your depression depends on whether or how much is it caused by caring about the suffering of people all across the world. What inspired me to post this is a thing I’ve seen multiple times in comments on the internet - people saying that treating their depression is kind of pointless as it’s mostly caused by their awarness of that.
It doesn’t take away your emotions or empathy, or your ability to feels strong emotions during a movie. There are many people - I would maybe say the majority - who love their families, pets, neigbors, whatever, but fates of people from somewhere else in the world suffering in wars or genocides leave them cold. They just don’t care. Maybe a little, but definitely not as much to feel bad about it on a daily basis.
So like a selective suspension of empathy for anyone not part of your “in-group”?
Sure… I’ll take it.
I mean, I was already gonna prioritize my group over others… this doesn’t change much for most people… an average pleb like me can’t save the world, so I’d save those I care about first.
If I somehow end up being a leader where I actually have the ability to change things… my memories could still be there as a spiritual guide… as in hey, now you are in control, save those that are weak… hopefully I don’t forget to be a good person lol…
As for everyone else… probably a lot more intense tribalism. Its gonna be even more fucked if someone consider themselves to be the only person in their “in-group”…