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Worst Roommate Ever

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Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#91

Post by willvarfar »

castle-bravo wrote: post #27
nwatson wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the pointer to the book, quite interesting so far. The author talks of psychopathy as an "adaptation" and not a "brokenness" in an individual ... but the adaptation so far mentioned is only in the sense of "the relatively small number of psychopaths is adapted to prey on other humans". I suppose that having too many psychopaths would render human trust very frail and would make a society prone to failure (…

I am not qualified to speak authoritatively on this matter, but here's how I see it: Psychopaths are mutant parasites. They lack certain abilities that enable them to integrate well into human groups and would not survive well in the paleolithic. With increasing population densities in the neolithic and in the modern age, it became possible for psychopaths to survive and pass on their genes. I think that psychopaths…

Why would psychopaths not do well in the paleolithic?

The family raise a child who is a psychopath. The child then does what psychopaths do, and the family are in an abusive relationship with the child.

The child can be charming to outsiders etc and can find partners to procreate with.

Can't spot why they would not survive well in the paleolithic.

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#92

Post by jwilk »

bvod wrote: post #18

This article does not belong on HN.

From the HN guidelines:

On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

[...]

Please don't complain that a submission is inappropriate. If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it.

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#93

Post by shdwban »

NYT has jumped the shark. The Trump shit hole comment was an "alleged" comment but they failed to use that quakifier. Something you have to expect from the top newspaper on earth.

Edit: come out of hiding Mr downvoter and argue on facts. Downvoted only warm my heart because I know Trump haters don't have any valid points to argue on and just wait for cnn to tell them what to think ,and to not read wiki leaks because only they are allowed ;)

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#94

Post by philliphaydon »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #24

I just lived for my last semester of undergrad with two people like this who really got on each others' nerves (all three of us just needed a semester of housing to finish school). They'd both brought their own toasters and just wanted theirs out and the others in a cabinet. I think they had less than 5 conversations in person, instead putting all their incredibly minor complaints in a group text so I'd have to see i…

I’ve never had problems like this. I had a policy with flat mates which was. If you put food in the fridge, expect me to eat it, if I put food in the fridge, I expect you to eat it, I’m not going to argue about fridge space or who bought what. It’s not worth the time and effort.

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#95

Post by robotbikes »

willvarfar wrote: post #91
castle-bravo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not qualified to speak authoritatively on this matter, but here's how I see it: Psychopaths are mutant parasites. They lack certain abilities that enable them to integrate well into human groups and would not survive well in the paleolithic. With increasing population densities in the neolithic and in the modern age, it became possible for psychopaths to survive and pass on their genes. I think that psychopaths…

Why would psychopaths not do well in the paleolithic? The family raise a child who is a psychopath. The child then does what psychopaths do, and the family are in an abusive relationship with the child. The child can be charming to outsiders etc and can find partners to procreate with. Can't spot why they would not survive well in the paleolithic.

If you are referring to hunters and gatherers, they rarely lived in nuclear families but instead extended family groups. They also socially impose the norm of egalitarianism and are in constant contact with each other. I suspect the original author saw these in direct conflict with sociopathy.

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#96

Post by adrianmsmith »

Joe-Z wrote: post #77
Momquist wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gut reactions to psychopaths tend to be the opposite: they are charming, and charismatic. Theres's a very good chance that you will like them, from the first impression. That's one of the traits/signs of a psychopath. That's why you shouldn't trust your gut, at least not in this case. And the experiences of the victims in the article reinforce this point, at least in the first encounters: a courtly gentleman , he was…

>...a courtly gentleman, he was very respectful. Actually that's the thing that threw me off. I mean why would a successful, well-adjusted "gentleman" even be in a situation where the best option for him is to live in a shared apartment with a woman considerably younger than him? Sure he gave her a reason, but well, he has to come up with _something_ doesn't he? To me it seems much more likely that she agreed to him…

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this.

When I was 35 I was getting divorced, and for simplicity, I moved into a shared apartment with a bunch of students (as I had to pay for the apartment with my wife, I didn't want to pay rent for two full apartments at the same time). I was a professional software Java developer at the time.

I appreciate 35 isn't 55, and I appreciate Java software developer isn't successful lawyer, but I can still see it happening even if I was older and in an even more lucrative profession. I mean people do have strange times in their lives, and not everyone is rich just because they're successful (e.g. divorce, health issues, downturn in the job market, bad decisions, etc.)

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#97

Post by mjburgess »

seizethecheese wrote: post #41
throwaway_4321 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure this will be unpopular, but: I once had a psychopath like this turn up in my life. Like a lot of these stories, it escalated slowly, one creepy / inappropriate thing at a time. There really is a frog in hot water effect in play here. If you haven't experienced it, it might be hard to understand why someone let themselves be in that situation at all. What I don't understand, however, is why people don't deal…

I've known people to label others as psychopaths in order to relieve guilt over their own behavior...

Yes, and especially, I don't know if a psychopath would cower in their bed.

Psychopathy goes along with a diminished sensitivity to pain and a generalized dissociative state, and I'd expect after a high-stress event, this dissociation to be extremely pronounced possibly to the point of total detachment from their environment.

Psychopathy is a "fight" response to stress, coupled with a extreme impairment to self-imagine/empathy. Its not a choice, its a lifelong pathology that I struggle to see diminish after a mere fight.

In particular, I wonder if a psychopath would really have much concern for their body in this way. I think they would be more concerned to protect its integrity/image than afraid of damage.

Maybe the were pretending to cower because that's what they thought this chump wanted to see. The way he talks about this situation though -- he comes off strongly as a person self-justifying and duty bound to do something obviously wrong.

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#98

Post by mischov »

shdwban wrote: post #93

NYT has jumped the shark. The Trump shit hole comment was an "alleged" comment but they failed to use that quakifier. Something you have to expect from the top newspaper on earth. Edit: come out of hiding Mr downvoter and argue on facts. Downvoted only warm my heart because I know Trump haters don't have any valid points to argue on and just wait for cnn to tell them what to think ,and to not read wiki leaks because…

The source of the original article is New York Magazine, not the NYT.

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#99

Post by BrandoElFollito »

maaaats wrote: post #80
whack wrote: post #53

The kind of tenancy laws I read in articles like these, sound absolutely idiotic. If you let someone into your home, and they aren't on the lease, you should be able to kick them out anytime they overstay their welcome. If you do sign a lease with someone, and they haven't paid their rent, you should be able to throw their stuff out and change the locks as soon as their security deposit has run itself out. As a forme…

> I lived in mortal fear of the day one of them realised that they could just stop paying me rent, and there's nothing I can do about it whatsoever That is of course false. It may be a hassle, but you can absolutely to something. And giving people housing is important, that's why the laws often favor the person renting, not the owner. The laws is a risk you have to take if you want to rent out your place. Price it in…

> That is of course false. It may be a hassle, but you can absolutely to something.

It depends where. In France you are completely stuck when someone dies not pay. It can take over a year to finally kick someone out.

And this is just if he is not paying. If someone pays, it is simply impossible. Every three years you may take back the house for your or your close family use only. You cannot sell it empty. You cannot end the contract. You are awfully stuck.

Re: Worst Roommate Ever

#100

Post by shdwban »

mischov wrote: post #98
shdwban wrote: post #93

NYT has jumped the shark. The Trump shit hole comment was an "alleged" comment but they failed to use that quakifier. Something you have to expect from the top newspaper on earth. Edit: come out of hiding Mr downvoter and argue on facts. Downvoted only warm my heart because I know Trump haters don't have any valid points to argue on and just wait for cnn to tell them what to think ,and to not read wiki leaks because…

The source of the original article is New York Magazine, not the NYT.

Wow, so you're assuming I'm a troll. And you're assuming that others are rational beings and downvoted me because I was off topic. My parent also mentioned NYT, wasn't downvoted. Being complete incorrect vs me being off topic (and definitely on topic in the immediate context) yet factual.

Your assumptions are biased.

Edit: and now rather than owning up to your mistake, you ninja-edited your comment. Just like NYT. Good.

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