>>40951461 (OP)
Since I've actually been able to read minds in the past, I can answer your question with confidence.
>Empathetic imprinting would be an inevitability
Yes, but in a way you wouldn't expect.
What I realized is that everyone is much more capable of being aware than they seem. You'd expect to become very compassionate if you could see the world from another's eyes. However, what happened is that I saw that people constantly lie to themselves and work hard to fuck themselves over in order to not face the work of getting their shit in order. People are lazy, victimistic, hypocritical pieces of shit, and I've seen it from inside.
In short, it made me realize the average NPC is a fucking god incarnate, and they squander every opportunity to create Heaven on Earth just to feel a little more pleasure, or to avoid the most minute inconveniences (this later snowballs into terrible torment, though).
Powers that be? Incarnation trap? Bullshit. People deserve every single bit of suffering they bring onto themselves (inborn circumstances are a topic for another thread).