> It really does seem to be the case that charismatic individuals can, as a rule of thumb, get away with almost anything at all. I've come to believe that the

> It really does seem to be the case that charismatic individuals can, as a rule of thumb, get away with almost anything at all. I've come to believe that the ordinary state of human consciousness is actually a form of mild anhedonic depression. It makes sense for a species that evolved in a world that rarely changed when most activity consisted of slow and painstaking work like farming, making simple things, and hunting. Up until the past few hundred years nothing changed within the time span of a single human life for most people. The ability to zone out for long periods and tolerate monotony would be an advantage. Being too "wound up" would be maladaptive as it would lead to needlessly reckless behavior and destruction of community. But we don't live in that world anymore. This is why stimulants of both dopaminergic (caffeine, amphetamine, modafinil) and serotonergic (antidepressants) forms are so popular. These drugs actually normalize our consciousness to the contemporary world. If homo sapiens evolved in the modern world we'd all be wired as if we were on 5-10mg of amphetamine and 10mg of escitalopram all the time. Here's the thing though. Humans are hyper-social to the point that the mental state of others affects our own mental state. This is partly why centers like Silicon Valley and New York are so powerful-- being around a lot of like-minded productive people actually makes us more productive. When someone comes along who is just naturally a little tweaked we say they have charisma, and we absorb a bit of that charisma vicariously. We get a nice tweaky brain chemical hit by being around them. This makes them addictive in a sense, and as with many drugs people will toss their rational mind out the window to get more.