# Cultivating empathy for small creatures
[2026-04-20_empathy]

Modified: 2026-05-04 @ 00:42:28 (Monday)
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#vegan #list

- Talk to them. It doesn't matter whether they can understand you or even recognize a "you". Talking is mostly a thing we do with humans; it's an empathetic impulse. And if you're irrationally afraid of the creature, talking aloud can calm you down. It can reframe the interaction from one of a person versus a threat to two people who are both making the best of their situation.
- Call them "them", or gendered pronouns if you must; do not call them "it".
- Get up close and get a good look at them. Seeing someone from a distance engenders psychological distance; seeing them in poor detail engenders poor understanding.
- Get curious. Imagine what it's like to be them: that's basically the definition of empathy, but you don't have to do it for empathetic reasons. You share the planet with a multitude of very strange creatures who are very different from you and live odd, alien lives. Habitual curiosity about their subjective experiences can become habitual empathy.
- Take MDMA.

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