>Since I own the business I work at, does that automatically qualify me to be a sociopath? No. The sociopaths are the ones who control the economic system and

>Since I own the business I work at, does that automatically qualify me to be a sociopath? No. The sociopaths are the ones who control the economic system and the bulk of the capital, who, if your company becomes worth anything, will make you an offer you can't refuse and you will no longer be an owner. If you refuse to be bought out due to some kind of lifestyle ideology, then you're clueless and suffering from Protestant Work Ethic brain damage. You're describing an instability. You are an instability. The laws of capitalism dictate that your situation as business owner should either set you up as a sociopath maximizing your outcome, or sell the company to a sociopath who can make more money using your company than you're able to make. If you then could retire but choose not to, you're clueless, because you're enthusiastic about being a cog in a dehumanizing capitalist machine. Only clueless people and sociopaths feel good about that. Clueless people like it because they have no clue, and sociopaths like it because power and destruction is what turns them on. Personally I just find that most people who willingly engage in commerce without a financial need to do so lack imagination. I do make exceptions for hacker types like pg who seem to believe they are subverting the system with their economic activity, but the line between being a subversive capitalist and being the most deluded sort of clueless person is very fuzzy.