Winter 2011: Register  Illustration of evolving man holding
hands with previous generations  Illustration by Jason Raish
Evolving Empathy  Article tools  Print Icon Print  By Frans de
Waal  Asked by a religious magazine what I would change about
the human species “if I were God,” I had to think hard. Every
biologist knows the law of unintended consequences, a close
cousin of Murphy’s Law. Anytime we fiddle with an ecosystem by
introducing new species, we create a mess. Whether it is the
introduction of the Nile perch to Lake Victoria, the rabbit to
Australia, or kudzu to the southern United States, I am not sure
we’ve ever brought improvement.  Each organism, including our
own species, is a complex system in and of itself, so why would
it be any easier to avoid unintended consequences? In his
utopian novel Walden Two, B. F. Skinner thought humans could
achieve greater happiness and productivity if parents stopped
spending extra time with their children and people refrained
from thanking one another. They wer