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DanArmak comments on Open Thread: November 2009 - Less Wrong
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Getting back to the original issue: since protecting humanity isn't necessarily driven by the amygdala and suchlike instincts, and requires all the logic & rationalization above to defend, why do you value it?
From your explanation I gather that you first decided it's a good value to have, and then constructed an emotional justification to make it easier for you to have that value. But where does it come from? (Remember that as far as your subconscious is concerned, it's just a nice value to signal, since I presume you've never had to act on it - far mode thinking, if I remember the term correctly).
Extending empathy to those whom I can't actually see just seems like the obvious thing to do since the fact that I can't see their faces doesn't appear to me to be a morally relevant feature of my situation and I know that if I could see them I would empathize.
So I'm not constructing an emotional justification post hoc so much as thinking about why anyone matters to me and then applying those reasons consistently.