> If society tells you to go kill somebody and you do, you can't be a sociopath. I think there is social value to having some well-behaved sociopaths on your t

> If society tells you to go kill somebody and you do, you can't be a sociopath. I think there is social value to having some well-behaved sociopaths on your team (ie, the Jayne Cobb archetype). But certain jobs/roles will absolutely self-select in favor of violent individuals with little empathy (and if you're not one already, the military, and to a lesser extent the police, are happy to turn you into one). This obviously isn't true of most military personnel, but there is a tendency, and the outliers on that bell curve will be ugly indeed. I'm realistic enough to know that war isn't going to just go away, and in some situations is a necessary evil. But I would happy enough if we could just stop exalting war as inherently glorious, and instead viewed it as the utter horror that it is, only to be employed at the utmost necessity. > The United States made a huge mistake in moving to an all-volunteer army in the 1970s. I actually think I agree with the logic here. Forced conscription was part of the reason for public opposition to Vietnam; the opposition to Iraq would have come quicker and stronger if the costs and realities were more uniformly distributed.