However, evolution has not equipped us with a limitless capacity for empathy. That is because feeling other people’s pain comes at a cognitive cost. We have limited bandwidth. There is only so much cognitive load we can carry, only so much processing of other people’s pain our mental module can do. All the same, we can partially insulate ourselves from the emotional burn by seeking the analgesic of reward on offer when we adopt a compassionate stance towards other people in pain. We can, after all, get something back.
