https://yuvalbloch.com/tags/activism-and-compassion/Recent content in Activism-and-Compassion on Yuval Bloch — Complexity & EcologyHugoenFri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://yuvalbloch.com/blog/snowflake_helping_people_in_dictatorships_bypass_internet_censorship_from_your_couch/Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://yuvalbloch.com/blog/snowflake_helping_people_in_dictatorships_bypass_internet_censorship_from_your_couch/<p>This isn’t my usual type of post, and it’s certainly outside my area of expertise. However, after following the recent news from Iran, I found a tool that more people should know about, which allows us to help people whose voices are silenced by the government with almost no effort.</p> <p>If you want to help immediately without reading the technical details, just leave this page open and enable the widget below it, which will act as a “bridge” for someone in a censored region as long as your tab is active:</p>https://yuvalbloch.com/blog/compassion_empathy_and_activism/Sat, 30 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://yuvalbloch.com/blog/compassion_empathy_and_activism/<p>As the war in Israel drags on — a strain on the mind <a href="https://yuvalbloch.com/blog/eye_of_the_storm/">I write about before</a> — I see many friends—especially peace activists—feeling burned out. It&rsquo;s not surprising. Carrying so much pain for so long takes a toll. But psychology, neuroscience, and ancient traditions offer an insight that can help: a deeper understanding of <strong>empathy</strong> and <strong>compassion</strong>, and how they shape our inner lives.</p> <h4 id="the-problem-with-empathy">The Problem with Empathy</h4> <p>Imagine this: you trip and hurt yourself, then a friend hugs you. Suddenly, you feel a little better. Simple enough, but your brain is doing something extraordinary. Professor Simone Shamay-Tsoory&rsquo;s research helps explain it. By having people hold hands while one was in pain, and using fMRI to scan their brains, she found that their brain activity actually synchronized, lighting up the same neuron patterns in both sides. The closer their brains &ldquo;mirrored&rdquo; each other, the less pain the person felt. This is the neurological basis of empathy: we don&rsquo;t just imagine another person&rsquo;s feelings; we simulate them inside our own brain. We run their pain through our own neural circuits, and by doing so, reduce our partner&rsquo;s suffering. This is why empathy motivates us to help and why it can alleviate feelings of isolation.</p>