The Mysterious Power of the Brain

SciFi writer Edward Willett points out that a recent study

... seems to indicate that we can understand other people’s experiences because we carry a model of how human brains work within our own brain, not because we’ve necessarily shared similar experiences.

And concludes:

There’s an old adage to “write what you know,” and yet writers—especially science fiction writers—often write about things they could never possibly experience, and readers are quite capable of understanding and enjoying those impossible experiences.

It's all about empathy, baby!