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Wisdom from Psychopaths?

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#41

Post by Millennium »

theorique wrote: post #40
barry-cotter wrote: post #3

The following review article by gwern gives a much better overview of psychopathy. http://lesswrong.com/lw/fzy/notes_on_psychopathy/ If the Scientific American article is representative of the book the world would probably have been better off had it never been written. For psychopaths other people are means, not ends. If wrecking your life will get them a more pleasant afternoon with no/small chance of danger to the…

You relate emotionally more like a dog than like a psychopath. I don't think I understand what you mean here. What do you mean by this?

I think the idea is to paint the psychopath mindset as being so utterly alien to humanity that even the emotional capacity of a dog would seem more familiar to us.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#42

Post by sethg »

As I understand it, psychopathic traits are very good for getting what you want in the short term. If this author’s interview subjects had appreciated the long-term consequences of their antisocial behavior, they wouldn’t be behind bars.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#43

Post by jerf »

theorique wrote: post #35
dkarl wrote: post #10

I was expecting to read an article about understanding human nature without morality and respect clouding your judgment. Instead I read that psychopaths are clever at thinking up nefarious schemes to get what they want. I don't buy it as "wisdom." Anyone can think of evil ways to get what they want, as long as the situation is hypothetical. Just yesterday I posted a comment describing how if I ran a dating site I wou…

half the internet seems to advocate being a psychopath as the best way to get laid wat?

He is probably referring to the pick-up artist/alpha male/"game" community. Googling any combination of those terms should show you more. Calling that psycopathy, at least in the pop-science sense, well it's perhaps a bit strong but not completely unreasonable.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#44

Post by barry-cotter »

theorique wrote: post #40
barry-cotter wrote: post #3

The following review article by gwern gives a much better overview of psychopathy. http://lesswrong.com/lw/fzy/notes_on_psychopathy/ If the Scientific American article is representative of the book the world would probably have been better off had it never been written. For psychopaths other people are means, not ends. If wrecking your life will get them a more pleasant afternoon with no/small chance of danger to the…

You relate emotionally more like a dog than like a psychopath. I don't think I understand what you mean here. What do you mean by this?

Have you ever felt guilt, love or anxiety? Dogs do, psychopaths don't.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#45

Post by theorique »

barry-cotter wrote: post #44
theorique wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You relate emotionally more like a dog than like a psychopath. I don't think I understand what you mean here. What do you mean by this?

Have you ever felt guilt, love or anxiety? Dogs do, psychopaths don't.

Ah, makes sense. I see what you mean now.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#46

Post by theorique »

Millennium wrote: post #41
theorique wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You relate emotionally more like a dog than like a psychopath. I don't think I understand what you mean here. What do you mean by this?

I think the idea is to paint the psychopath mindset as being so utterly alien to humanity that even the emotional capacity of a dog would seem more familiar to us.

Yes, in popular accounts the nature of the psychopath, while charming, is also seen as both "reptilian" and rather cold.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#47

Post by michaelochurch »

sethg wrote: post #42

As I understand it, psychopathic traits are very good for getting what you want in the short term . If this author’s interview subjects had appreciated the long-term consequences of their antisocial behavior, they wouldn’t be behind bars.

Effective psychopaths never end up behind bars. They climb the corporate ladder. I've seen them in action and, as bad as they are for the companies they work in, you can't come away from seeing one in action without thinking, "Damn, he's good".

The violent ones are the lower class of psychopaths, and most prisoners aren't psychopaths. The smarter, high-class psychopaths are the corporate back-stabbers. They learn how to "manage up" because the ROI is so high.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#48

Post by theorique »

jerf wrote: post #43
theorique wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

half the internet seems to advocate being a psychopath as the best way to get laid wat?

He is probably referring to the pick-up artist/alpha male/"game" community. Googling any combination of those terms should show you more. Calling that psycopathy, at least in the pop-science sense, well it's perhaps a bit strong but not completely unreasonable.

Ha, everything I've read about that world seems to be young guys clowning around for attention - magic tricks and funny outfits.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#49

Post by michaelochurch »

chmike wrote: post #27

This raise the question if the best entrepreneurs should be psychopaths. Investors seam to favor the psychopath personality characteristics (taking risks, focus, bent rules to reach goal = hack the system, etc.). It also seam that people with moderated psychopathy might be socially and professionally advantaged and might thus, in the long term, become the dominant humans and the future product or our on going evoluti…

I've worked for two startups and got to know their CEOs well.

The first was probably not a psychopath but definitely a narcissist, and would do bad things if he thought it was necessary to the health of his business, including lying to keep people in the company. He failed after spending millions on a launch party in the early 2000s, and his reputation never recovered.

The second was an out-and-out psychopath: dishonest, manipulative, and hired worse people than him (to do his dirty work and keep him clean). He's still going strong.

Re: Wisdom from Psychopaths?

#50

Post by berntb »

michaelochurch wrote: post #47
sethg wrote: post #42

As I understand it, psychopathic traits are very good for getting what you want in the short term . If this author’s interview subjects had appreciated the long-term consequences of their antisocial behavior, they wouldn’t be behind bars.

Effective psychopaths never end up behind bars. They climb the corporate ladder. I've seen them in action and, as bad as they are for the companies they work in, you can't come away from seeing one in action without thinking, "Damn, he's good". The violent ones are the lower class of psychopaths, and most prisoners aren't psychopaths. The smarter, high-class psychopaths are the corporate back-stabbers. They learn how…

>>most prisoners aren't psychopaths

"In a typical prison population, about 20 percent of the inmates satisfy the Hare definition of a psychopath, but they are responsible for over half of all violent crime."

http://www.hare.org/links/saturday.html

Your claim is true but it is an oversimplification. There is at least a factor of ten over representation, since 1-2% of the total population are psychopaths.

Edit: Considering the large incarceration rates in the USA (more than 1% of the adult population), 10-20% of the total number of psychopaths should be in prison there... Oh my!

Edit 2: Consider 50% of all violent crime committed by 1-2% of the population... Everything else pales.

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