There are about 18 billion of them on Earth. Eyes, that is. Peering into them might just save us.

Is a scarcity of eye contact crippling modern culture, as performance artist Marina Abramovic believes? Well, it’s certainly not the only thing, but addressing that avoidance could go a long way to curing our modern ills.

The transformative power of the act resides in the connection between our eyes and our empathy. She would know, as she’s spent more than 700 hours staring into the eyes of more than 1,500 strangers at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art.

No need to start with 1,500 strangers. Abramovic thankfully provides a handy how-to for two people. Maybe later, she says, you can use social media to organize meet-ups — perhaps the best use yet of the technology.

Thanks Marina.