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I clicked on this article because it is how to get along in groups of men. While prison likely has a high concentration of pathological personalities, the more
by fatdog 10y ago
I clicked on this article because it is how to get along in groups of men.
While prison likely has a high concentration of pathological personalities, the more serious the company you are in, the more it will have collected people who are attracted by power and prestige - the more probable case that you will be dealing with psychopaths.
The ones I've met aren't actually that smart (handwavy estimate is they seem to top out around IQ120), and usually only have one or two blunt but heavy social tools that make them high functioning manipulators. They are enabled by overly trusting, high IQ but socially unsophisticated engineers who are easily bullied.
With violence largely a non-factor in a psycho's toolkit in the startup world (vs. prison), you can learn to anticipate and manage them.
While it can be fun to have the scariest dog in the park, who's just a sweetie to you at home (because all they understand is power), it raises the question of responsibility. You know it's going to do harm, it's just a matter of time, and the question for a real leader is, at what point do you recognize it for what it is and put it down?
If you have ever been to boarding school, summer camp, or worked in a large institution, the difference to prison seems largely symbolic. Different people and rules, yet still, people and rules.
- pc86 10y agoTIL ~2 standard deviations above the mean isn't "that smart."
- dgacmu 10y agoAnd you also learned that the standard deviation on the stanford-binet scale is 15, not 10. :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_classification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_classification
- pc86 10y ago(Subtly) edited :)
- trose 10y agoWelcome to hacker news. Creating an account puts you up to 130 IQ minimum.
- imagist 10y agoYou're looking at it by statistical comparison, but the difference in capability may not actually be that large. Indeed, it's my perception that latent intelligence is far less important than knowledge gained through learning/experience. My IQ was measured at 140 in high school, but having met a variety of people whose IQs I know, there are people with 100 IQ whose opinions I would defer to over my own, and people with 160 IQ whose opinions I would pretty much ignore. IQ just isn't a very important indicator of utility.
- pavel_lishin 10y ago> I clicked on this article because it is how to get along in groups of men. Stay aloof and paranoid?
- ablation 10y ago"You can learn to anticipate and manage them." Ah... ever think you've stared too long into the abyss, perhaps?
- fatdog 10y agoMore corporate batman than bateman, but in effect, yes.
- pmoriarty 10y ago"If you have ever been to boarding school, summer camp, or worked in a large institution, the difference to prison seems largely symbolic." The military is another good example of this.