The More People Die in any Situation the Less People Care

It's wonderful that so many individuals believe themselves to be sympathetic and sensitive. One could argue that if you want to improve the world, you need to care about other people. However, there is also scientific support for the claim that this compassion has its boundaries. For instance, the more victims there are in a disaster, the less people will truly care. Although it seems utterly contradictory, this is the way our minds operate.

War, natural disasters, and, of course, pandemics like Covid-19 can all cause enormous casualties. However, people quickly grow tired of hearing about these things. Our ability to empathize can become limited. We refer to it as psychic numbing.

People's emotions are not easily evoked by large numbers. We eventually reach a point when a large number is beyond our comprehension. Consider the games where you have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar. Because numbers lose meaning after a certain point, people frequently make outrageously incorrect guesses. Sadly, as a result, jelly beans and deaths are in the same boat.