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I am not talking about whether I want society overall to embrace this framing. From a selfish perspective, of course I do not want that. I'm talking about myse
by hnracer 6y ago
I am not talking about whether I want society overall to embrace this framing. From a selfish perspective, of course I do not want that.
I'm talking about myself only. I can act purely self-maximizing and reap the gains while society pays the cost (an externality). I can feign kindness etc to extract the prosocial benefit to myself when it's required. I am a small fish in a big pond, I can take take take from society without fundamentally altering the way society treats me.
If I am a psychopath why should I not act in this manner?
- jolux 6y agoI reject the idea that god-fearing psychopaths act more ethically. It feels like a non sequitur.
- claudeganon 6y agoIf you’re a psychopath, you probably do act in that manner, so that’s irrelevant? What curbs psychopaths behavior is their ability to calculate the risk posed by engaging in varying degrees of antisocial behavior versus the rewards gained by engaging in less of it and preserving their ability to exploit and harm others. And this is largely determined by their intelligence and upbringing. The vast majority of people aren’t psychopaths though because evolution selected for traits like the capacity for empathy and remorse over amorality. These act as natural checks on antisocial behavior because it’s generally miserable to live in counter to these impulses, although humans have developed many clever means for overriding them (e.g. certain drugs, like amphetamines, and various violent or cult-like ideologies).