Used to roll my eyes at those until I realized people just want a neat little story, not the chaotic reality.

That "stuck in a loop" feeling is so familiar with this topic. What kind of evidence or argument would actually make a theory hold water for you personally?

Soviet-era training halls everywhere had that geometric obsession.

That distinction between imitation and mood always trips me up. If mirror neurons fire both when we perform an action and see it, doesn't that directly influence our emotional state? The study zaraknight mentioned shows increased trust, which feels emotional. So is it really just imitation, or is the mood change a byproduct of the neural mapping? What's the latest research say about the emotional weight of these neurons?