Morality in the anthropocene: The perversion of compassion and punishment in the online world
Claire E Robertson, Azim Shariff, Jay J Van Bavel
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>Although much of human morality evolved in an environment of small group living, almost 6 billion people use the internet in the modern era. We argue that the technological transformation has created an entirely new ecosystem that is often mismatched with our evolved adaptations for social living. We discuss how evolved responses to moral transgressions, such as compassion for victims of transgressions and punishment of transgressors, are disrupted by two main features of the online context. First, the scale of the internet exposes us to an unnaturally large quantity of extreme moral content, causing compassion fatigue and increasing public shaming. Second, the physical and psychological distance between moral actors online can lead to ineffective collective action and virtue signaling. We discuss practical implications of these mismatches and suggest directions for future research on morality in the internet era.</jats:p>
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Community Reviews
kayo
12/12/2025
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- large amnt of extreme moral content online -> compassion fatigue & increasing public shaming - physical & psychological distance b/w moral actors online -> ineffective collective action & virtue signaling - online, ppl perceive transgression even when none present - ensemble coding biased by extreme exemplars (90% of pop's political opinions are represented by <3% of online posts) - supernormal stimuli online - low-cost forms of prosocial behavior can hinder material impacts of positive social movements - punishment focuses on exacting retribution - virtue signalling