Did anyone hear this?

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I was cleaning an office of someone who was listening to Science Friday on NPR. Ira Flatow was interviewing Simon Baron-Cohen on his new book about the neurology of empathy and cruelty. I didn't get to hear it-I'm curious if he brought up anything about autism.

Redacted.

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Evil-Empa ... 509&sr=8-1

Has a section on autism.

i dont know what to make of all this empathy v sympathy stuff.i think aspies do feel empathy.maybe we dont articulate it well or something.i think autistics have felt empathy and sympathy all along.comunication just got lost along the way

em·pa·thy
noun \ˈem-pə-thē\
Definition of EMPATHY
1
: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2
: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this

from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy
from the same site
Definition of SYMPATHY
1
a : an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other b : mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it c : unity or harmony in action or effect <every part is in complete sympathy with the scheme as a whole — Edwin Benson>
2
a : inclination to think or feel alike : emotional or intellectual accord <in sympathy with their goals> b : feeling of loyalty : tendency to favor or support <republican sympathies>
3
a : the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another b : the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity <have sympathy for the poor>
4
: the correlation existing between bodies capable of communicating their vibrational energy to one another through some medium

I didn't really mean to start another discussion of the different interpretation of the two words but I'm posting the "official" definitions in the interest of clarity.

I was interested if anyone had heard what SBC had said because he has made some assertions regarding theory of mind in autistics that many have found offensive.

I was just curious if anyone had heard it and their impressions. I can listen to the interview on the NPR website and I will eventually.

He wrote about this extensively in his book that I linked above.

He believes that aspies lack self-awareness and therefore lack empathy, but he defines self-awareness as awareness of how other people see you. I think that's very revealing.

It fits my theory that nonautistic 'empathy' is just a manifestation of the animal power hierarchy, in-group/out-group thing. We aren't part of that, and unless you've experimented with oxytocin you can't imagine how it feels.

An interesting consequence arises when you consider the Milgram experiment or any of the many corroborative results showing that everyday people will freely torture people so long as an authority figure tells them to. If I'm right, SBC's 'empathy' is precisely what allows that to happen. It may be impossible for a nonautistic to have this insight.