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Letter From A Psychopath

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Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#261

Post by Houshalter »

shanusmagnus wrote: post #259
tomstokes wrote: post #92

Perhaps the most fascinating part of this letter is observing people's reactions to it. In the letter, the author goes so far as to admit that s/he is and always will be a psychopath without a sense of guilt or remorse toward others and a keen ability to recognize and exploit weaknesses in others for his/her own gain. Judging by the comments here, the letter has done just that. One comment below notes that "Jeez, tha…

What is most fascinating to me is the fact that posts like the parent will delve into the game theoretic motivations of psychopathy as if the psychopath were some wholly unique flavor of creature operating under behavioral algorithms never before seen, when the truth is that your neurotypical, salt of the Earth Johnny Lunchpail is doing the same thing, except on a different timescale, and with the utility functions i…

So because a person is not themselves a perfect altruist, they are no better than a person who has no empathy or morality whatsoever?

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#262

Post by Crito »

selmnoo wrote: post #138
pndmnm wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you'd like to read a community actually interacting with him rather than hellbanning him under the rug, check out this Metafilter thread: http://www.metafilter.com/119424/An-Operating-System-for-Son... Long, but worth the read.

And here he is asking us for help and being ignored: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1782800 Actually just go through the his submission history and randomly click a few links: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=losethos You can actually see his condition gradually getting worse over months and years. I wonder if he would have turned out differently had we embraced him - and helped him?

In the past he has made reference to doctors and his parents. The impression that I get is that he is getting more help right now than HN can give him.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#263

Post by kristofferR »

selmnoo wrote: post #138
pndmnm wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you'd like to read a community actually interacting with him rather than hellbanning him under the rug, check out this Metafilter thread: http://www.metafilter.com/119424/An-Operating-System-for-Son... Long, but worth the read.

And here he is asking us for help and being ignored: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1782800 Actually just go through the his submission history and randomly click a few links: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=losethos You can actually see his condition gradually getting worse over months and years. I wonder if he would have turned out differently had we embraced him - and helped him?

After the hellban several years ago all his submissions were automatically killed instantly after posting. So you can't blame the community for not responding, the system made it impossible to respond/upvote at all.

This is one of the reasons why hellbanning is such a bad idea, leaving the poster to believe that everybody is actively ignoring him instead of just not being able to see him/interact with him.

Making regular healthy people waste a lot of their time posting content and feeling totally ignored is bad enough, subjecting people with mental health issues to that is even more unethical.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#265

Post by RamiK »

theorique wrote: post #154
dave_sid wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't believe this story is at the top of the front page. Shame. Shame on you.

Because the inner workings of different human minds are not of interest to hackers. Why shame?

Shame might be too hard, but I agree with OP. It's a general human interest piece that has little place in a dedicated technical news forum.

Mind you, I feel similarly about most NSA submissions and while I would very much like to have a dedicated mews aggregator \ Groklaw'esque blog-forum dedicated to the NSA\Snowden revelations, I don't try making HN into one.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#266

Post by psychosurvivor »

throwaway83294 wrote: post #128
hootener wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's brilliant about this letter is how easily I stepped into it. C admitted to possessing the abilities to be a master manipulator and exploiter of weakness; and I still let C manipulate me into thinking exactly the way he/she wanted me to by the end of the letter. It was the literary equivalent of the cup-and-shell game. I saw the con happening right before my eyes and still got duped. Brilliant writing. (Note: I…

You have no idea. I was "friends" with someone for years, who at the time I didn't know was a psychopath (over time I realized they met literally every item on the psychopathy checklist). The manipulativeness, the ability to lie completely sincerely (I bet a lie detector test would show absolutely nothing), and absolute and utter lack of remorse is terrifying, in a way. The most striking thing, in retrospect, is the…

Your story resonates with me and I notice we're both using throwaway accounts to share our stories (mine elsewhere on this thread.) Once you've had close relations with a full blown psychopath you'll never be the same again. There is absolutely no way to learn about the experience except to go through it. I still think about mine and want to pick up the phone sometimes and call him. Psychopaths can be everything you need from another person because they'll study those needs intensely to manipulate you to get what they want. It's hard to explain, like trying to explain a hit of crack to someone who has never tried it. Psychopathy explains con artists, pimps, cult leaders, and yes, even Steve Jobs to a certain extent.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#267

Post by kristofferR »

munificent wrote: post #199
kristofferR wrote: post #31

Everybody should turn on showdead in the settings and check out losethos' comments here. Psychopathy is really interesting and fascinating, but so is schizophrenia. It boggles my mind how anyone can write such nonsensical rambling comments while at the same time coding a 64 bit operating system from scratch.

> It boggles my mind how anyone can write such nonsensical rambling comments while at the same time coding a 64 bit operating system from scratch. Comments like this show exactly how poorly our culture handles mental illness. Imagine if someone had said, "It boggles my mind how anyone can be deaf while at the same time coding a 64 bit operating system from scratch." He isn't stupid , he's schizophrenic. Aside from hi…

That's not a fair example at all since hearing doesn't have an obvious relevance to coding, it's a mostly mental/visual activity (+ the physical activity of typing the code).

Schizoprenia on the other hand impacts the exact same faculty that is the most important one for programming, the brain. I don't think it's ignorant to be fascinated over how his illness so severly impacts his though processes while writing (and living), but apparently not while coding.

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#268

Post by JVerstry »

sliverstorm wrote: post #158
throwaway83294 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no idea. I was "friends" with someone for years, who at the time I didn't know was a psychopath (over time I realized they met literally every item on the psychopathy checklist). The manipulativeness, the ability to lie completely sincerely (I bet a lie detector test would show absolutely nothing), and absolute and utter lack of remorse is terrifying, in a way. The most striking thing, in retrospect, is the…

this person is characterized by being completely fearless (as is typical of psychopaths) Everyone is afraid of something. Psychopaths are still people. If you believe someone is fearless, it's a safe assumption they either hide their fear (when they feel it) extremely well, or you simply haven't encountered it yet.

No, some people do not experience fear at all. It is not hidden anywhere. As scary as this may seem... lol

Re: Letter From A Psychopath

#269

Post by shanusmagnus »

catchaway wrote: post #175
tomstokes wrote: post #92

Perhaps the most fascinating part of this letter is observing people's reactions to it. In the letter, the author goes so far as to admit that s/he is and always will be a psychopath without a sense of guilt or remorse toward others and a keen ability to recognize and exploit weaknesses in others for his/her own gain. Judging by the comments here, the letter has done just that. One comment below notes that "Jeez, tha…

Perhaps the most fascinating part of this response is observing how this has changed the tone of discussion in this thread. It's interesting how the parent tries to downplay his own ability to identify weakness in his readers and manipulate them into thinking of what they found as inspirational as being manipulative. Judging by the comments here, the parent's been pretty successful. One comment below notes that "What…

Brilliant.
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