Chapter 1: The First-Person Fallacy

The First-Person Fallacy is the subconscious belief that because you are the center of your own universe, you are the center of the universe. It is a biological default. From birth, our needs, pains, and joys are the only ones that are visceral.

The Perspective Gap

Most people live in a state of perpetual “main character syndrome.” This is not necessarily due to malice, but due to a lack of cognitive effort. To acknowledge the full “aliveness” of another person requires a conscious override of our sensory data. We see a body, we hear a voice, but we do not experience their history.

The Desensitization of the Digital Age

The internet has exacerbated this fallacy. When interaction is reduced to text on a screen, the “other” becomes even less real. We have transitioned from a society of neighbors to a society of spectators. In this digital colosseum, empathy is often discarded because the “players” are perceived as digital constructs rather than flesh and blood.