Two possibilities here: (1) this adds fuel to the neuroskeptic fire, or (2) the author is a high-functioning psychopath. I've often wondered if there are such

Two possibilities here: (1) this adds fuel to the neuroskeptic fire, or (2) the author is a high-functioning psychopath. I've often wondered if there are such things. There are high-functioning schizophrenics, manics, autistics, just about anything else. Why not psychopaths? In the psychopath case being high-functioning would mean you've kind of intellectualized empathy, learned to empathize and regulate your behavior via other compensatory neural pathways. Our image of the psychopath comes from the axe murderer or the con man in a suit who charismatically takes charge of a company, wrecks it, and makes off with everyone's retirement savings (assuming he/she does not land in prison). But in the same sense our image of the schizophrenic comes from the guy babbling at invisible monsters at your local street corner. There are people all around who have abnormal neurophysiology who have managed to deal with it without it terribly harming their lives or the lives of others.