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I was expecting to read an article about understanding human nature without morality and respect clouding your judgment. Instead I read that psychopaths are cl
by dkarl 14y ago
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 would screw over my customers by giving them the exact opposite of what was good for them because it would be more profitable for me [1]. Most people have fantasized about violence from time to time, and half the internet seems to advocate being a psychopath as the best way to get laid. It's the reality of a situation that stops people from being as "wise" as a psychopath, and, I would argue, there's no loss, because in a practical situation there's no point in seeing solutions that you won't execute in real life. Did the author's friends use the asbestos solution? I think not. It would be awkward to explain to friends, they would have moral scruples, and it might very well be illegal. If a non-psychopath and a psychopath both limit their imaginations to plausible options, the psychopath isn't any more wise for seeing options the non-psychopath doesn't.
[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5015068 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5015068
- dmor 14y agoThis was the problem I had with the article as well. It fails to point out, in conclusion, that these people are committed for life because they are extremely dangerous - and not just in theory, but because they have taken actions to achieve goals that have had damaging and terrifying outcomes in the real world. Despite being 5 pages long, the article feels unfinished - maybe that is the author's idea of a teaser for a book, but for me as a reader it felt like a waste of time.
- bengillies 14y agoWell it states what Broadmoor is and says that it contains some of the most dangerous people in the country (and mentions the casual references to physical violence a couple of times). Does that not adequately describe how dangerous these people can be? It seemed fairly obvious to me at least. It also points out that there's such a thing as going too far and that merely learning/using some of the techniques that psychopaths tend to exhibit (in a mild form) is potentially useful. It doesn't seem (to me at least) that he's directly advocating pretending to be a council inspector/whatever to kick people out of their home.
- unimpressive 14y agoIt's when you write something this spot on that I feel like the cancer killing HN. I'd really like to be able to take back my upvote without flagging the article.
- jackfoxy 14y agoQuite a lengthy article for a couple interesting anecdotes. Not worth the read.
- anthonyb 14y agoThat's a very shallow reading of the article, and given your comments about violence, you seem to have missed the main point, which is that there's a continuum of mental states, from flat out psychopath to neurotic and everything in between. The lawyer mentioned on the first page would appear to be high on the scale, but not enough for him to not care about risking going to jail. And your 'screwing over customers' is vague in the extreme. How exactly are you going to keep people on your hypothetical dating site but without them meeting people? Withhold phone numbers? On the other hand, the asbestos example given in the article is concrete and specific and seems pretty plausible to me - certainly enough to be worth trying (once you've exhausted other, less risky solutions).
- RyanMcGreal 14y agoThe other part of the article is the psychopaths' "relative indifference to setbacks" and their fearlessness. > “The thing about fear, or the way I understand fear, I suppose—because, to be honest, I don't think I've ever really felt it—is that most of the time it's completely unwarranted anyway. What is it they say? Ninety-nine percent of the things people worry about never happen. So what's the point? > “I think the problem is that people spend so much time worrying about what might happen, what might go wrong, that they completely lose sight of the present. They completely overlook the fact that, actually, right now, everything's perfectly fine. > “So the trick, whenever possible, I propose, is to stop your brain from running on ahead of you.”
- gadders 14y agoThey sound almost like Stoics - minimising fear of unknowns, living in the moment, muted emotional responses to setbacks.
- illuminate 14y agoThere are parallels, certainly.
- theorique 14y agohalf the internet seems to advocate being a psychopath as the best way to get laid wat?
- jerf 14y agoHe 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.
- theorique 14y agoHa, everything I've read about that world seems to be young guys clowning around for attention - magic tricks and funny outfits.
- illuminate 14y agoThe end goal is control and affectless dominance so much less harmless, even if the reality is a bunch of sad creepers in fedoras.